Barcelona takes a commanding 4-1 lead over Chelsea in Women's Champions League semifinals series

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona recovered from a missed penalty by Alexia Putellas to take a commanding 4-1 lead over Chelsea in the Women’s Champions League semifinals on Sunday.

Putellas had her penalty kick saved by Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton in the 12th minute but the Catalan club rallied with a pair of goals by substitute Claudia Pina and one each from Ewa Pajor and Irene Paredes.

Sandy Baltimore scored for Chelsea.

“No winning scoreline is enough,” Barcelona coach Pere Romeu said. “There’s huge evidence in soccer that you can’t ever rely on a first-leg lead. We are going to have a beautiful battle over there at Stamford Bridge.”

Chelsea will host the return semifinal leg next Sunday and the winner on aggregate will advance to the final in Lisbon next month.

It was the eighth straight win for defending champion Barcelona in the European women's competition. It has scored 40 goals across those eight consecutive wins since losing 2-0 to Manchester City.

Barcelona and Chelsea are meeting in the last four for the third consecutive season. Barcelona has advanced each time.

“I still believe in my team and my players, 100%,” Chelsea coach Sonia Bompastor said. "It’ll be difficult, but the main goal is to score early in the return leg. In football everything is possible, so let’s try to win the game and, if we score early, maybe we can put Barcelona under pressure.”

Pajor opened the scoring in the 35th and Pina added to the lead in the 70th, not long after entering the match.

Baltimore pulled the visitors closer four minutes later, but Paredes gave Barcelona a two-goal lead again in the 82nd.

Pina added a fourth in the 90th at the Johan Cruyff stadium.

“When I’m on the bench, we’ve already spent a whole week analyzing a rival like Chelsea," Pina said. "You have lots of ideas in your head. When the game goes on, you progress those ideas and look at where your teammates are already creating gaps in the opponents’ defense.”

In the other semifinal series, Lyon weathered a second-half rally by Arsenal to claim a 2-1 away win on Saturday, putting the record eight-time champions on course for another Women's Champions League title match.

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

Chelsea goalkeeper Hannah Hampton holds the ball during the women's Champions League semifinals, first leg, soccer match between FC Barcelona and Chelsea FC at the Johan Cruyff Stadium, in Sant Joan Despi, outside Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Bagu Blanco)

Barcelona's Ingrid Syrstad Engen vies for the ball with Chelsea's Mayra Ramirez, left, during the women's Champions League semifinals, first leg, soccer match between FC Barcelona and Chelsea FC at the Johan Cruyff Stadium, in Sant Joan Despi, outside Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Bagu Blanco)

Barcelona's Claudia Pina celebrates after scoring her side's fourth goal during the women's Champions League semifinals, first leg, soccer match between FC Barcelona and Chelsea FC at the Johan Cruyff Stadium, in Sant Joan Despi, outside Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Bagu Blanco)

Barcelona's Claudia Pina celebrates on the shoulders of Alexia Putellas, left, after scoring her side's fourth goal during the women's Champions League semifinals, first leg, soccer match between FC Barcelona and Chelsea FC at the Johan Cruyff Stadium, in Sant Joan Despi, outside Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Bagu Blanco)

Barcelona's Irene Paredes, center, celebrates after scoring her side's third goal during the women's Champions League semifinals, first leg, soccer match between FC Barcelona and Chelsea FC at the Johan Cruyff Stadium, in Sant Joan Despi, outside Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Bagu Blanco)

Chelsea's Lucy Bronze falls to the ground next to Barcelona's Ewa Pajor during the women's Champions League semifinals, first leg, soccer match between FC Barcelona and Chelsea FC at the Johan Cruyff Stadium, in Sant Joan Despi, outside Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Bagu Blanco)

Barcelona's Irene Paredes runs after the ball during the women's Champions League semifinals, first leg, soccer match between FC Barcelona and Chelsea FC at the Johan Cruyff Stadium, in Sant Joan Despi, outside Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Bagu Blanco)

Barcelona's Fridolina Rolfo and Patri Guijarro, right, celebrate after defeating Chelsea 4-1 in their women's Champions League semifinals, first leg, soccer match at the Johan Cruyff Stadium, in Sant Joan Despi, outside Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Bagu Blanco)

Barcelona's Alexia Putellas, 2nd right, celebrates with teammates Ingrid Syrstad Engen and Patri Guijarro, right, after defeating Chelsea 4-1 in their women's Champions League semifinals, first leg, soccer match at the Johan Cruyff Stadium, in Sant Joan Despi, outside Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Bagu Blanco)

Barcelona's Ingrid Syrstad Engen, Claudia Pina, Ewa Pajor and Patri Guijarro, from left, celebrate after defeating Chelsea 4-1 in their women's Champions League semifinals, first leg, soccer match at the Johan Cruyff Stadium, in Sant Joan Despi, outside Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, April 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Bagu Blanco)

ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.

Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.

Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.

U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.

"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”

Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.

“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”

Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.

U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.

Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.

Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.

Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.

"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.

The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.

The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.

“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.

“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”

The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)