Barcelona put six past Madrid in quarter-final first leg
Barcelona took control of their Women's Champions League quarter-final with an impressive, dominant away first-leg victory at Spanish rivals Real Madrid.
The three-time European champions needed only six minutes to open the scoring when Patri Guijarro produced a clever ball over the Real defence and Alexia Putellas unselfishly passed for Ewa Pajor to round off a fine team goal.
Barcelona, looking to make the semi-finals of this tournament for an eighth successive season, doubled their lead seven minutes later.
Esmee Brugts headed at goal from Vicky Lopez's cross and home goalkeeper Misa Rodriguez got a hand to the ball, but could only push it into the net.
After Pajor missed a one-on-one opportunity to make it 3-0, Real pulled a goal back in the 30th minute with Linda Caicedo taking the ball around Barca goalkeeper Cata Coll to finish.
But the visitors only needed two minutes to restore their two-goal advantage as Irene Paredes powered in a header following Claudia Pina's corner from the right.
Pajor got her second of the night and Barcelona's fourth with a first-time finish from Clara Serrajordi's assist in the 57th minute and Lopez slid in a fifth seven minutes later.
Caicedo scored a fine individual goal for Real's second, blasting the ball into the top corner in the 66th minute, but Barca added a sixth in the 89th minute with a penalty from Putellas after Caroline Graham Hansen had been fouled.
The second leg takes place at the Spotify Camp Nou on Thursday, 2 April, with Barcelona expected to seal progression to set up a two-legged tie against either Manchester United or Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.
Having won the competition in 2021, 2023 and 2024, Barcelona lost to Arsenal in last season's final.
As well as being on course for European glory, they are closing in on a seventh successive league title in Spain as they sit 10 points clear of Real, having won 22 of their 23 matches, scoring 103 goals in the process while only conceding six.
The two meet in the league on Sunday in Madrid before the Women's Champions League return.
Madrid's Caicedo scores stunner against Barcelona
