Barça receives Chelsea tomorrow (1:30 p.m.) in Montjuïc, in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals. A duel that will be a repeat of last year's tie and that the Blaugrana hope will end with the same result: FC Barcelona's passage to the San Mamés final on May 25.
Unlike last year, this time Barça will play the second leg in London, so obtaining a favorable result in Montjuïc is vital. For this reason, both Patri Guijarro and Jonatan Giráldez hope to be well supported by the fans. “It is a historic stadium, I hope a lot of people come. I encourage everyone to come because it is at a time when people can come, there will be sun and that also encourages people. Furthermore, the Champions League semi-finals are a great reason to be with us,” encourages the Blaugrana midfielder.
For his part, Giráldez hopes to improve the start of the day of the classic, the only precedent for his team in Montjuïc: “We not only want to win on the grass, but also in the stands. We hope that arriving at the field is wonderful and that we can live a magical day in Montjuïc.”
It will be the third time they face Chelsea in the last year: “Last season's games will help us see things done well and poorly,” Giráldez acknowledged, although he acknowledges that neither Barça has “the same squad,” nor They arrive in similar dynamics: “They arrive after losing two important competitions and they are missing key players for this match. We, on the other hand, arrived in a good dynamic.
The game against Chelsea will be one of the most demanding they will face all season and Giráldez is aware of this: “We have had few experiences where we have been behind on the scoreboard, but we have not lost a game this season” , he points out. “I really like the team's mental capacity to face the games. We have grown a lot," says the Galician coach, who recalled how in the last year they have learned to manage complicated situations such as starting off losing 2-0 in a Champions League final and turning it around: "At a tactical level we are at a superlative level and we have "I have made a great evolution on a mental level."
Barça reaches the decisive stretch of the season with practically all of its players available, with the only absence of Mapi León, who is already working on the final stretch of his recovery. On the contrary, Chelsea will not have Sam Kerr, their star and long-term injury. Although in her place they have since this winter the Colombian Mayra Ramírez, who in January became the most expensive signing in the history of women's football, from Levante. “We faced Mayra when she was in Levante. She is very strong. She doesn't look fast, but she is forceful and she takes the ball. Both she and Kerr are two great players. “Mayra does not lower Chelsea's level,” says Patri Guijarro.
For the Balearic soccer player, the experience that FC Barcelona has accumulated after having played six consecutive semifinals will be vital to get a good result in the first leg: “Six in a row is very difficult, but we have done it. Experience is going to be very important in the first minutes. We have to control the nerves that can play tricks on you in the first minutes, just like overexcitement. The starting minutes are very important to face the tie well. In other years this has cost us more and it is a plus point that we will take advantage of,” she explains.
