The Norwegian winger ran the show as Barca beat the Blues in the first leg of their Women's Champions League semi-final clash
Barcelona are on the brink of a fourth Women's Champions League final in five years after beating Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday afternoon.
The Catalans opened the scoring early on when Caroline Graham Hansen scored a wonderful goal that eventually proved to be the difference, with full-back Marta Torrejon coming closest to making it 2-0 when she hit the woodwork late on.
Chelsea were always the underdogs for this game, especially as they came into it with a number of injuries, but they did well to stick with Barca despite a lack of defensive options.
That good work at the back gives them a fighting chance of still winning this tie, though it is going to be a very big ask to beat their opponents at a packed Camp Nou.
GOAL takes a look at the winners and losers from an entertaining first leg of this UWCL semi-final…
Getty ImagesWINNER: Caroline Graham Hansen
Caroline Graham Hansen has never made the list of nominees for the Ballon d'Or. She has, arguably, been the best winger in world football for several years now but individual recognition has long escaped her.
The Norwegian is unlikely to get it this year because, sadly, she's spent large parts of the season out injured. But her brilliant performance and stunning strike in Saturday's UWCL semi-final first-leg win over Chelsea was a reminder of how bizarre her omissions from those award ceremonies have been.
How much longer can she be ignored when she is doing such incredible things on the biggest stage? It won't bother the player herself too much, with her fully focused on being successful with the team, but the credit she deserves should surely be on the horizon.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesLOSER: Niamh Charles and Jess Carter
Chelsea appeared to start with a back four in this game but quickly changed to a back five, with Jess Carter the left-sided centre-back and Niamh Charles as the left wing-back.
It was generally effective and largely helped the Blues restrict but they struggled to contain Graham Hansen down Barca's right, particularly because there often appeared to be confusion between Carter and Charles as to who should engage with the player and who should stay.
For the opening goal, the winger was able to exploit the gap between the centre-back and wing-back to burst forward and fire a rocket of a strike into the far corner.
With both unnatural in the respective roles, it was always going to be a challenge to contain such a world-class forward.
Getty ImagesWINNER: Maren Mjelde
Chelsea were without their two first choice centre-backs, Millie Bright and Kadeisha Buchanan, again for this fixture. It was going to be a huge test of the hosts' squad and it was one of their replacements who put on the best performance in blue: Maren Mjelde.
It was only the Norwegian's seventh start of the season – but it didn't look like it. She was sharp and marshalled Barca's attacking stars brilliantly throughout the game to limit the danger they could cause.
On two separate occasions, Graham Hansen and Salma Paralluelo broke into the box in seemingly worrying situations, but Mjelde kept her cool, didn't dive in and did enough to put them off and prevent the Catalans adding a second.
The versatile veteran also made a terrific block early in the second half to thwart Paralluelo, who had got into a great position for a shot.
Mjelde hasn't played a lot this season but on Saturday she proved that she is still a top, top player and certainly one for the big games.
GettyLOSER: Sarina Wiegman
On the eve of this huge game, Arsenal announced that England captain Leah Williamson had ruptured her ACL.
Later that afternoon, Chelsea boss Emma Hayes said that her centre-back partner for the Lionesses, Millie Bright, would be out "for weeks".
And the following day, in this match, first-choice right-back Lucy Bronze hobbled off with a painful looking knee injury.
England will be without Williamson for this summer's Women's World Cup, there's no doubt about that. Head coach Sarina Wiegman recently said she wasn't too "concerned" about Bright's fitness, but she must be a little worried now as her absence continued.
She'll be crossing her fingers now that Bronze's problem is not serious either – as will Barcelona, of course, as they look to end the season with a second European title.