Chelsea and Emma Hayes have once again fallen short of securing a place in the final of the Champions League. 

There will be a feeling of déjà vu as Barcelona stopped Chelsea at this stage of the competition last season and seem to be the Blues’ Achilles' heel.

Hayes, who is leaving at the end of season to manage the US Women's National team, was hoping she could complete her last season with Champions League glory, the only trophy to elude her during an illustrious spell at Chelsea, but it was not to be.

Chelsea had pulled off a remarkable result in the first leg and were leading 1-0 at the halfway point of the tie. 

With a record crowd of 39,398 roaring them on, it felt like Saturday could be the night on which Chelsea changed their fortunes in this competition.

However, the Catalan holders showed their big-game mentality and Ballon d’or winner Aitana Bonmati had cancelled out Chelsea's lead in the tie within 25 minutes at Stamford Bridge.

The drama ensued from that point on with two huge decisions by referee Iuliana Demetrescu sealing the Blues’ fate.

Kadeisha Buchanan was given her marching orders when she received a somewhat harsh second yellow card just before the hour mark for a foul on Salma Paralluelo, then Fridolina Rolfo scored the all-important goal from the spot when Ashley Lawrence was adjudged to have fouled Bonmati.

Hayes felt aggrieved by the calls made by the Romanian referee and made her feelings known to the officials at the full-time whistle, when she could be seen mouthing the words; ‘we’ve been robbed’.

Hayes could not hide her disappointment when speaking to the media after the tie and had strong words for UEFA.

“I didn’t feel we got the opportunity to lose the game, that was taken away,” said Hayes.

“I was surprised when I saw her [Demetrescu] selected because she’s famous for easy cards and I think that [Buchanan's sending-off] is probably the worst decision in UEFA Women’s Champions League history.

“So when you get such a shocking official decision, there’s nothing you can do about it. 

“It’s hard enough when we’ve got 11 against them [Barcelona], but when you’ve got 10 it’s virtually impossible.

“Even Barcelona players said to us they knew the referee was helpful for them. I didn’t think it was a foul [from Buchanan] let alone a yellow card. I’m gutted for the players, we were robbed."

On the red card, Hayes added: “I was stood there and I looked at the fourth official and I said, ‘Surely that will be checked?’ and she said, ‘It can’t on a yellow’.

“But as I said, I think the toughest thing to take is that we didn’t lose it. 

“There’s nothing you can do when there’s such a terrible decision and it’s already hard enough. They are a top team. When that’s taken out of your hands, that’s a tough one to take for the players.”

Hayes may have reason to question the appointment of Demetrescu as the data shows she has awarded four penalties in three UEFA Women's Champions League games this season, more than any other referee. 

Barcelona have now reached the final for the fourth consecutive year and will face either eight-time champions Lyon or Paris Saint-Germain, the finalists from 2015 and 2017.

Bonmati shared her elation about winning the tie with DAZN after the game, saying: "A little bit lucky but sometimes you have to shoot in the box and you never know."

"It’s amazing, another final," Bonmati added as her team-mates danced and sang in the rain in front of the travelling fans. 

"It wasn’t easy because we had a tough team in front of us. We had to sweat our T-shirts to achieve it. I’m proud of my team and let’s go in for another final."

This win saw Barcelona earn their fifth clean sheet from 10 matches in the competition this season, a higher total than any other team has managed.

Chelsea boss Emma Hayes is expecting a tough test as her side travel to Bristol City in the Women’s Super League on Sunday.

Hayes’ team go into the fixture on the back of a crushing 4-1 defeat by Arsenal last weekend which saw their unbeaten streak in the league come to an end and they will be looking to set the record straight after they also failed to beat Hacken in the Women’s Champions League in midweek.

Bristol City sit 11th in the table and have only won one of their opening nine games but Hayes is not underestimating Sunday’s opponents.

She told Chelsea’s website: “Bristol are going to play five at the back and we’ll have the same sort of challenges (as against Hacken).

“But if we can find a blue shirt, can put the ball into the right areas in the right moments, I’m sure we’ll be fine.

“She (City boss Lauren Smith) will make it difficult for us. You see their result against Arsenal, they’re actually eighth in the league in terms of xG conceded. So they don’t give up as many clear-cut chances as you may think.”

Midfielder Melanie Leupolz and defender Ashley Lawrence are expected to return to training ahead of the fixture and young Japanese forward Maika Hamano could also make an appearance.

Robins boss Lauren Smith is looking forward to another tough test and thinks her side are adapting to different challenges in the league.

She said: “As time has gone on, the performances have lifted and we’ve started to now show we can adapt to teams and that was pleasing to see at Liverpool on the weekend that we changed our shape and press and caused them problems.”

Manchester United will be looking to extend their winning run to five games in all competitions when they play Liverpool and boss Marc Skinner is pleased with what he has seen from his squad heading into the last game of 2023.

He said: “Barring the Manchester City performance, we have been excellent, considering four or five of my players joined us in the last week of the transfer window.

“They have grown together, they continue to grow together and it will be an exciting second half of the season, I can assure you that.”

Liverpool could go level on points with United with a victory on Sunday and striker Leanne Kiernan is setting her sights on competing with the teams at the top of the table.

She told Liverpool’s website: “We want to compete and we are not here just to sit in mid-table. We want to compete with the big teams and we know that on our day we are good enough to compete with the big teams, so we are really looking forward to it.”

Manchester City will be aiming to make it four successive league wins with victory over Everton at Walton Hall Park.

But the Toffees have also enjoyed an upturn in form recently and come into the game unbeaten in three league matches themselves and could move into sixth with a win.

Two out-of-form sides meet at the King Power Stadium when West Ham meet Leicester. Both teams are without a win in their last seven matches and will see the game as an opportunity to break their winless streaks.

Aston Villa host Brighton at the Bescot Stadium as the sides sit 10th and ninth respectively and both teams will be looking for a result to put some breathing space between themselves and the relegation zone.

It was another case of could have and should have for Lorne Donaldson and his senior Reggae Girlz as they were left ruing the substandard performance in a 0-2 defeat to Canada, a blow to their Olympic Games qualification hopes.

A positive start in which they kept Canada at bay gave the Reggae Girlz and the moderate spectator turnout at the National Stadium hope that they could have pulled off a big win.

But when it mattered most, they lacked accuracy in the final third, and that, coupled with amateurish defending at times, resulted in Nichelle Prince (18^th) and the menacing Adriana Leon (90+3), putting Canada in the driver’s seat to secure the coveted spot to next year’s Olympic Games in Paris.

While the Bev Priestman-coached reigning Olympic champions will be confident heading into Tuesday's second leg, to be played before a sold-out crowd at BMO Field in Toronto, Donaldson and his team will have to pick up the pieces and get their offensive and defensive shape right in their bid to achieve an improbable win in hostile environment.

“Canada is a team that played like 100 games together. We are a team that is coming together, and we are still searching for some combinations that we think can work. Scoring goals is very difficult. I mean, we haven’t played anybody who is a slouch, so we have to get games that are winnable games for us that we can start building and building.

“But it doesn’t come easy when you play teams like Canada, France, and Brazil among others, but hopefully we can find a way to get through this situation and start scoring some more goals,” Donaldson said in his post-game press conference.

Reflecting on the performance, Donaldson pointed out that he had nothing to be satisfied with, especially in a loss where the team’s execution fell below expectations.

The Girlz throughout the contest, had some half chances fall to Cheyna Matthews, Jody Brown, Tiffany Cameron and Konya Plummer, in the latter stages. From a defensive perspective, the score could have been much wider in Canada’s favour had it not been for some excellent work from goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer.

“We had a couple of chances, and we didn’t finish them. Canada got their chance, and they finished it. For the first 50 to 60 minutes they [Canadians] were better than us moving the ball around and they did some stuff that really caught us off guard tactically. We made the adjustments but chasing a one-goal lead a lot of time you then gave up another one and that’s what happened,” Donaldson reasoned.

“There’s not a lot of satisfaction when you lose games. We weren’t as good as we should be. Maybe for first 10 or 15 minutes we got two chances that we should have done something better with.

“Canada had one and they finished it and so right there it could have been a big difference. Chasing the game is very difficult at times when you play good teams. Canada are the defending champions and I think we had forgotten that," he added.

With the situation being as it is now, Donaldson like many Reggae Girlz supporters at home and abroad, hope it will serve as added motivation for the players. 

Being more committed and focused, the tactician believes will lead to lead to a better second-leg performance, especially as they now have a very specific aim which is to not just win but win by two or more clear goals, if they are to achieve another historic feat of being the first Caribbean team to qualify for women's football at the Olympic Games.

“I think everybody should be okay and ready to go because we have to now go to Canada and change our fortunes and make something happen differently,” Donaldson declared.

Should the Girlz fail to overturn the deficit, they will next be in action against Panama and Guatemala where victories would secure their berth in next year's Concacaf Women's Gold Cup.