Chelsea vs Bayern Women's Champions League preview

A first-time UEFA Women's Champions League finalist is assured as Bayern München defend a 2-1 lead at Chelsea in the second leg of their last-four tie on Sunday.

Hanna Glas made the first then brilliantly scored the winner for Bayern last week to give them the edge against a Chelsea side who had beaten Wolfsburg in both quarter-final legs. Chelsea, already without right-back Maren Mjelde, were missing captain and key defender Magdalena Eriksson, whom they hope to have back from injury, and will bid to go one better than in their last semi-final of 2019, when they also lost an away first leg 2-1 in Lyon and fell just short with a 1-1 home draw.

Bayern lost both legs of their debut semi-final that year to Barcelona but seven wins out of seven in a potentially tricky European run this term is proof of their improvement since. Their result against Chelsea showed they are back to the form that brought a 26-game winning streak at the start of the season despite a recent slip with two defeats. They are missing long-term absentees Jovana Damnjanović, Giulia Gwinn, Ivana Rudelić, Carina Schlueter and Kristin Demann.

Form guide

First-leg axtionGetty Images

Chelsea
Last six games: LDWWWW
Last match: Bayern 2-1 Chelsea (UEFA Women's Champions League semi-final first leg), 25/04
Where they stand: 1st in FA Women’s Super League, FA Women's Cup round of 16, FA WSL Cup winners

Bayern
Last six games: WWLLWW
Last match: Bayern 2-1 Chelsea (UEFA Women's Champions League semi-final first leg), 25/04
Where they stand: 1st in Frauen Bundesliga

Possible line-ups

Bayern: Benkarth; Glas, Hegering, Ilestedt, SImon; Zadrazil; Bühl, Laudehr, Zadrazil; Beerensteyn, Magull, Lohmann

Chelsea: Berger; Carter, Bright, Ingle, Andersson; Ji, Leupolz, Cuthbert; Harder; Kirby, Kerr

View from the camps

Emma Hayes, Chelsea manager: "The realities are that if we're going to progress, we probably need to score more than one goal. For us, there's focus on us doing what we've done so well this season in going forward."

Millie Bright, Chelsea defender: "It's a season we wanted to be winners in. No matter what trophy we're competing for, we always want to lift that trophy. What we're aiming to do remains the same. It's to push one another every single day and not to settle for what we've done. We always want more."

Jens Scheuer, Bayern coach: "Chelsea are an exceptional team so we had to take a different approach [in the first leg]. The players did an excellent job and rewarded themselves with the victory. Victory was the most important thing, now it's in our own hands."

Laura Benkarth, Bayern goalkeeper: "It's a special game for us. I would be lying if I said that I am not excited. But it's more of a positive nervousness. It is not inhibiting, but I am simply looking forward to it. We play football for games like this."