Barcelona vs. Chelsea score: Barca capture first UEFA Women's Champions League title in blowout win

Barca scored in the first minute and never looked back

Barcelona stormed to their first UEFA Women's Champions League title on Sunday. Barca scored in the opening minute against Chelsea and never looked back in a 4-0 win in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Spanish side dominated the first half and scored all four of their goals in the first 36 minutes, eliminating any hope for Chelsea.

Barcelona's first goal came just 35 seconds into the game on an own goal after the ball took a deflection off a Chelsea defender.

Chelsea, who won the English Women's Super League last week, threatened to equalize shortly after the own-goal opener, but failed to find the back of the net. Barcelona was awarded a penalty kick in the 14th minute, which Alexia converted. Aitana Bonmatí made it 3-0 Barcelona just seven minutes later and Caroline Graham Hansen put the game entirely out of reach with Barca's fourth goal in the 36th minute.

Barcelona, who knocked out Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain on their way to the final, captured their first Champions League crown in their second trip to the title game (they were defeated by Lyon in the 2019 final). They are the first Spanish team to win the Women's Champions League. Chelsea were making their first UWCL final appearance. No English side has won the trophy since Arsenal in 2007.

Takeaways

Chelsea: Manager Emma Hayes and her squad walk away from their first ever Champions League final as the runner-up. Impressive in their quest to reach the final, the Blues struggled to ever truly find their way into the game after going down on an own goal in the opening minute. They high-flying attacking trio of Fran Kirby, Sam Kerr, and Pernille Harder were largely kept out of the game in a combination of Barca's counter press eliminating them and Chelsea struggling to develop any meaningful possession on the ball to generate offense.

With Kirby often marked out of the game, Chelsea's fullbacks struggled against the attacking Barca side throughout the match, and though the Blues managed to try get after the game during the second half, the goals never came. A roster stacked with talent, the club is likely disappointed, but they have an outstanding domestic season to hang their hats on, and minor adjustments in the roster could see Chelsea likely back in the final in the future.

Barcelona: A dream start to kickoff their Champions League final in the opening minute as Lieke Martens and the team generated chaos in the box that led to an own goal. It was an unpredictable start, and one that Barcelona didn't let Chelsea recover from. Questionable penalty kick call or not, a four-goal thrashing is hard to argue against, and each of Barcelona's goals during the final provided a look at how crafty and smart they are at generating offense and executing in front of goal when it counts. They are now champions of Europe, and have shut the case on who is the best club team in the world.

The team will have a chance to further prove that when they visit the United States for the 2021 Women's international Champions Cup in August where they will face Portland Thorns FC, Houston Dash, and Olympique Lyon.