Rivalries on tap with Barcelona-Chelsea and Lyon-PSG in Women's Champions League semifinals

LONDON (AP) — Power struggles, intriguing matchups and fond farewells.

The Women’s Champions League semifinals kicking off Saturday have a bit of everything.

Two teams are trying to assert their continental dominance and the other two are fighting to be crowned European champion for the first time.

Defending champion Barcelona hosts Chelsea in their first-leg match on Saturday afternoon before eight-time champion Lyon takes on French rival Paris Saint-Germain in the evening. The second legs are the following weekend.

Barcelona is going for its third title in four years, while Lyon is seeking its record-extending ninth. Lyon has “only” been to one final in the past three years. That's great by most standards but off the pace from Lyon's earlier dominance. It won five in a row from 2016-2020.

Should Lyon and Barcelona advance to the May 25 final in Bilbao, Spain, it would be a rematch of the 2022 decider, when Lyon won 3-1.

Chelsea and PSG have never won the Champions League or its predecessor, the UEFA Women's Cup. In its only final appearance, Chelsea was routed 4-0 by Barcelona in 2021. PSG has been runner-up twice — in 2015 to Frankfurt and two years later to Lyon.

As manager, Emma Hayes has led Chelsea to more than a dozen major domestic titles, but the Champions League has eluded her. She's got another shot before leaving London to take over as coach of the U.S. women's national team.

“The team wants to win for themselves, they want to win for the football club, they want to win for their families, they want to win because they're winners. They're sick to death of what they need to do for me, and that's fair, it's not about me, it's about them,” Hayes said of Chelsea's push for trophies in her final season.

Barcelona coach Jonatan Giráldez is also headed across the Atlantic after this season, to become coach of the NWSL's Washington Spirit.

Here’s a closer look at the matches:

BARCELONA-CHELSEA

Two-time champion Barcelona has had the upper hand against the Blues, having beaten them in the 2021 final and last year's semifinals. The home team on Saturday afternoon has the star power, too, with Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmati leading a potent attack that includes two-time Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas, Salma Paralluelo, Caroline Graham Hansen, and Fridolina Rolfö. It can be a nightmare for any defense. The Catalan club is undefeated this season. Barcelona beat Wolfsburg 3-2 in last season's Champions League final. For Saturday, Barcelona has had a week to prepare, unlike Chelsea, which lost 2-1 to Manchester United on Sunday in the FA Cup semifinals and played on Wednesday in England's domestic league. The London team has missed the firepower of striker Sam Kerr, who sustained an ACL injury in January. Lauren James, Mayra Ramirez and Sjoeke Nüsken have picked up the slack. Fran Kirby is also a threat. James missed Wednesday's game with an unspecified injury and her status for Saturday was unclear. U.S. forward Catarina Macario made her first start for Chelsea in midweek. The second leg is at Stamford Bridge the following Saturday.

LYON-PSG

Lyon hosts Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday evening in an all-French matchup that has usually gone Lyon's way. Lyon beat PSG in the 2017 final — on penalties — and three other times in the semifinals, while PSG's latest Champions League success against its rival was in the 2020-21 quarterfinals. In the offseason, Kadidiatou Diani left PSG to join Lyon, and the France international now leads the Champions League with seven goals this season. Teammate Ada Hegerberg, who signed a contract extension this week, has five goals and is the tournament's all-time top scorer (64 goals). PSG may have lost Diani, but it found an emerging star in Malawi forward Tabitha Chawinga to pair with the prolific Marie-Antoinette Katoto. And PSG was moments away from victory in Lyon in the French league earlier this season before settling for a 1-1 draw after a 90th minute own-goal. The game at Groupama Stadium is expected to break the attendance record for a Lyon women's home match with more than 35,000 tickets sold. The current record is 30,661 from a Lyon-PSG match in 2019. The second leg will be at Parc des Princes the following Sunday.

MUSICAL CHAIRS

At least two — possibly three — of the four semifinalists will have new coaches next season. Emma Hayes is taking over as coach of the U.S. women's national team. Sonia Bompastor has reportedly agreed to replace Hayes at Chelsea. Barcelona coach Jonatan Giráldez will become coach of the NWSL's Washington Spirit in June. Spirit owner Michele Kang is also the majority shareholder of the Lyon women's team.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FILE - Chelsea's Lauren James scores her side's first goal past Ajax's Regina van Eijk during the Women's Champions League quarterfinal soccer match between Ajax and Chelsea at the Johan Cruyff ArenA, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. The Women’s Champions League semifinals kicking off Saturday, April 20, 2024 have a bit of everything. Defending champion Barcelona hosts Chelsea in their first-leg match before eight-time champion Lyon takes on French rival Paris Saint-Germain. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)

FILE - Lyon's Kadidiatou Diani runs with the ball during the women's Champions League quarterfinals, first leg, soccer match between SL Benfica and Olympique Lyonnais at the Luz Stadium, in Lisbon, Tuesday, March 19, 2024. The Women’s Champions League semifinals kicking off Saturday, April 20, 2024 have a bit of everything. Defending champion Barcelona hosts Chelsea in their first-leg match before eight-time champion Lyon takes on French rival Paris Saint-Germain. (AP Photo/Armando Franca, File)

FILE - PSG's Tabitha Chawinga, right, scores her side's first goal past Bayern goalkeeper Maria-Luisa Grohs during the women's Champions League group C soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. The Women’s Champions League semifinals kicking off Saturday, April 20, 2024 have a bit of everything. Defending champion Barcelona hosts Chelsea in their first-leg match before eight-time champion Lyon takes on French rival Paris Saint-Germain. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)

FILE - Barcelona's Aitana Bonmati heads the ball during the women's Champions League quarterfinals, second leg, soccer match between FC Barcelona and SK Brann Kvinner at the Estadi Johan Cruyff in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, March 28, 2024. The Women’s Champions League semifinals kicking off Saturday, April 20, 2024 have a bit of everything. Defending champion Barcelona hosts Chelsea in their first-leg match before eight-time champion Lyon takes on French rival Paris Saint-Germain. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort, File)

STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — A convicted sex offender is asking the Norwegian Supreme Court to declare that social media access is a human right.

The case before the court Thursday involves a man who molested a minor and used the Snapchat messaging app to connect with young boys.

The unidentified offender was sentenced last year to 13 months in prison and banned from using Snapchat for two years.

His lawyers argue that depriving him of his account is unlawful under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The case turns on how vital social media have become for freedom of expression, even though the court must decide the case through laws that predate such sites.

“The case raises important questions about the extent to which the state can restrict access to social media platforms, which are significant tools for exercising the right to freedom of expression and maintaining social connections,” defense lawyer John Christian Elden said.

A November 2023 appeal against the ban failed with the state successfully arguing it was “proportionately measured against the fact that the defendant has used Snapchat to exploit children sexually.” The Appeal Court added that he still had the right to use other social media. If the Supreme Court also upholds the decision, the offender could attempt to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

The European convention has been used before to test the limits on Norwegian justice. Anders Behring Breivik, the far-right extremist who murdered 77 people in 2011, lost a court challenge in February that argued being held in isolation while serving his prison sentence amounted to inhumane punishment under the convention.

Signatories to the ECHR agree to abide by 18 articles guaranteeing citizens rights including life, liberty and freedom of expression. Norway was the second country to ratify the convention in 1952, after the United Kingdom.

Snapchat, run by Snap Inc., allows users to send and receive messages that disappear once they are read. Users also can physically locate other users who opt in to location tracking.

Snap prohibits child sexual exploitation on the app but allows accounts to be create anonymously. In an email it said, “when we disable accounts for sexual exploitation and grooming behavior, we also take steps to block the associated device and other accounts connected to the user from creating another Snapchat account.”

Snap disabled 343,865 accounts connected with child sexual exploitation in the second half of 2023. It sanctioned 879 accounts in Norway though it is not clear how many of these were permanently disabled.

The Norwegian court will issue its ruling in the coming weeks.

A view of the interior of the Supreme Court, in Oslo, Oct. 31, 2023. A convicted sex offender is asking the Norwegian Supreme Court to declare social media access is a human right. The case before the court Thursday, May 2, 2024 involves a man who molested a minor and used the Snapchat messaging app to connect with young boys. (Martin Solhaug Standal/NTB Scanpix via AP)