Athletic Club v FC Barcelona: Crucial and convincing victory starring Jenni Hermoso (0-4)

Barça Women left Lezama with their confidence restored following their 4-0 win against Athletic Club thanks to a Jenni Hermoso hat-trick. This maintains the blaugranas first place in the league table and despite the score line it wasn’t an easy match.

Athletic are not in the title race but they have been difficult to beat at home all season with only Atlético and Valencia winning there. Xavi Llorens’ side came into the game looking to recover from the harmful defeat in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals against PSG in the Miniestadi.

Barça responded fantastically by controlling the match from start to finish. They dominated possession, controlled the tempo and created chances aplenty. Jenni Hermoso’s individual move created a chance at the start and later on Alexia threatened again. Barça weren’t struggling in defence as they patiently looked for the opener.

Jenni Hermoso finally broke the deadlock with a scorcher in the final move before the break. She took the ball in the box and lost her marker before she stuck it in the top corner. Simply unstoppable.

Jenni wins it and Olga adds some gloss

The goal was a psychological blow for the home side seeing as it came just before the end of the first half in which they had defended so valiantly. Jenni Hermoso inflicted further pain with the second from the penalty spot shortly after the restart.

Barça were in control and they weren’t giving Athletic Club any chance. Barça’s number ‘10’ added her third goal of the evening from a corner routine which surprised the keeper.

The team from Bilbao were overrun against a side who knew a win was crucial for the title race. In fact, the three points puts them back on top of the table and Olga García, who came on in the second half, capped a brilliant performance with a fabulous free-kick. Her shot went straight into the top corner and gave Barça a 4-0 win in the last move of the game.

Xavi Llorens’ side will now turn their attention to overturning the scoreline form the first leg of the semi-finals against PSG on Saturday at the imposing Parc des Princes.