UWCL PREVIEW | FC Barcelona v Real Madrid

Imma Cabecerán, Lolita Ortiz, Kety Pulido, Ani Escribano, Laura Ràfols, Marta Unzué, Vicky Losada... and so many pioneers before them have been waiting for so long for this moment. The Barça women’s team are about to play in front of an expected capacity crowd at the Camp Nou in this Wednesday’s second leg of the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter final against none other than Real Madrid. All 90,000 tickets have been sold!

The defending European champions won the first leg 3-1 at Valdebedas, so are extremely well-poised to advance to the semi-finals for the fifth time in six years.

There is no question that this is a date with history. The women have played at Camp Nou before, on 6 January 2021 against Espanyol in the league, but on that occasion there was no crowd due to Covid-19 restrictions. Today will be different. Today will be a game that will mark a turning point in the entire history of women’s football.

Barça’s opponents are Real Madrid for the fifth time in four months. Each of those Clásico encounters has been very different to the rest, and other than the 5-0 victory that confirmed Barça as league champions, the others have all been close-fought contests.

Barça have been on relentless form this season, winning all 36 games in official competitions. But this game presents a new challenge, and they’ll be doing so without the injured Jana, Mariona, Cata, Bruna, Oshoala and Martens.