LUCY BRONZE gave England fans the jitters after going off injured during Barcelona’s 1-0 defeat of Chelsea in the Women’s Champions League semis.
The full-back, 31, sparked concern after she dropped to the turf clutching her knee in the game’s second spell.
The worrying moment came a day after national team-mate Leah Williamson saw her season ended early by an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
Bronze was substituted swiftly after receiving treatment from her club’s physios for an issue with her right knee.
And the Lioness was spotted with an ice pack on her knee after limping off in the 67th minute of the clash played in front of a 27,697-strong crowd at Stamford Bridge.
But Barca boss Jonathan Giraldez suggested the issue does not appear to be serious.
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He said: “She felt something in her knee, but in the end it was normal and she’s fine.
“In the moment we made the substitution it was because the feeling she had was bad. But now the feeling she has is really good.
The last clash between the teams saw Chelsea beaten in the Champions League final back in May 2021.
They were blown away in a thirty-six minute four-goal blitz with Caroline Graham Hansen among the Catalan giants’ biggest threats.
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And she was Chelsea’s nemesis once again as Barcelona drew first blood in the semis first-leg battle.
The Norway forward gave the visitors a fourth-minute lead with a thunderbolt finish after being given too much space to fire.
The visitors saw a chance to double their lead denied with Ann-Katrin Berger’s save of Geyse’s shot before Guro Reiten saw a goal ruled offside with 25 minutes gone.
And the Blues forward had a glorious opportunity to level with her angled shot in the box cleared off target by Bronze.
The second spell saw Hayes ring some changes with Lauren James among the substitutes introduced in this period and she saw an effort saved with 39 minutes of normal time left.
And Ann-Katrin Berger pulled off a stunning late save to deny Fridolina Rolfo with Chelsea needing to overcome a 1-0 deficit at Camp Nou this Thursday.
Blues boss Hayes said: “I wanted to be in the tie and we’re in the tie. Now we have to prepare again for another game.
“Their whole team is phenomenal.
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You have to suffer. You will be without the ball. One switch off and positional error cost us the goal.
“I think we limited them to as few chances as we possibly could and I’ll take that going into the next game.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
