“Women’s football is reaching newer heights and the Barcelona effect” – Twitter erupts as The Roma vs. Barcelona match in the UEFA Women’s Champions League at the Stadio Olimpico is the highest attended match in the history of Italian women’s football

UEFA Champions League: While Roma Femminile and FC Barcelona Women’s historic first meeting ended in a scoreless draw, the outcome of such a tense contest was far from certain.

An Italian women’s football record audience of 39,454 was treated to a competitive game in which both teams had opportunities to score. Despite late pressure from Roma, Barça’s first-half domination, capped by a goal by Salma Paralluelo, was enough.

Maybe since it was their first time playing both Barça and at the Stadio Olimpico, Roma started the game a little tentatively. The visitors, headed by Walsh and Patri in the middle, rapidly adopted a passing style and assumed control of the game. On two separate occasions, Patri’s passes inside the left fullback almost released Paralluelo down the left channel.

On the right, Graham Hansen was causing Minami a ton of trouble. She eventually forced a few corners, one of which was almost converted by Bronze but went just wide. With pressure mounting, Barça finally broke through after 34 minutes when Paralluelo showed quick feet to avoid her woman before turning to curl in a left-foot shot past Ceasar in the Roma goal. Catalonia leads 1-0 at the half.

It grew worse for the home team in the second half, with Graham Hansen setting up Oshoala many times, only to have her opportunities stopped by Roma’s finest performance Ceaser, who made a fantastic point-blank reaction save by pushing an Oshoala header over the bar, one of many chances she rejected.

The Roma vs. Barcelona match in the UEFA Women’s Champions League at the Stadio Olimpico is the highest attended match in the history of Italian women’s football, the federation announced

Nevertheless, on 56 minutes, Roma started to take advantage of the space behind the Barça full-backs and began to drive the visitors back in quest of an equalizer, with the energetic Giacinti’s attempt inside the box being courageously diverted over by Mapi Leon. Three minutes later, Oshoala had another attempt blocked, indicating that it was not her day to score.

Paos showed her alertness in goal to a rasping shot by Giugliano on minute 83. Then she saved from Giacinti in the last minute at the near post following a brilliant free kick routine, making the remainder of the game a fair test of the visitors’ defense.

Overall, a hard-fought victory for Barcelona Women after a relatively easy first half; they will carry a one-goal aggregate lead into the second leg, which will be played on March 29 at 6:45 p.m. CEST at The Spotify Camp Nou.

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