The epicenter of worldwide women’s soccer right now is Spain. More specifically, it’s Barcelona.
Long one of the planet’s most heralded men’s sides, the women have now become juggernauts of the sport, and Wednesday’s 5-2 victory (and 8-3 on aggregate) over rivals Real Madrid in the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarterfinals was a culmination of sorts.
A deafening culmination. An official total of 91,553 fans turned out at Barcelona’s famed Camp Nou stadium, which topped the modern era record of 90,185 at the 1999 Women’s World Cup final and nearly doubled the previous record for a UWCL match. As for the world record, there are accounts of 110,000 attending an unofficial match between Mexico and Denmark in Mexico City in 1971, and this didn’t quite hit that mark.
Either way, there were a lot of people there Wednesday. Just listen to the crowd reaction when Barca center back María Pilar León opened the scoring in the eighth minute:
Real Madrid drew level with a penalty in the 16th minute, and in the second half the golazos started pouring in. First, Real Madrid’s Claudia Zornoza beat Barca keeper Sandra Paños with a napalm chip from 40 yards out:
After Barca equalized through Aitana Bonmatí a few minutes later, Clàudia Pina stuck this frozen dagger far post to give Barca the lead:
Reigning Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas and Caroline Graham Hansen scored the last two goals for Barcelona, which won the Champions League for the first time last season and will face either Arsenal or VFL Wolfsburg in the semifinals in late April.
