Real Madrid clings to the Champions League

Against Chelsea, runner-up in Europe just two years ago and champion of the Women's Super League last season, Real Madrid added a draw (1-1) this Thursday that allows them to hold on to the Champions League.

The whites, who took the lead in the first half with a goal from Caroline Weir after a blunder by the

goalkeeper , competed head-to-head with one of the favorites to win the tournament, a team that had won all their games in the competition and that until tonight had not conceded a single goal against.

A penalty committed by Ivana Andrés, who clumsily ran over Guro Reiten in the second half when he wanted to clear the ball, caused the Londoners to tie.

The result allows Alberto Toril's men (five points) to depend on themselves to advance to the quarterfinals, with the match against PSG (seven points) on December 16 in Paris marked in red on the calendar.

Anything that is not a victory in the French capital will make it extremely difficult for them to advance to the next phase, since the Parisians visit London on the last day with Chelsea (10 points) already classified.

The current leader of the English league took only two minutes to give the first warning.

Samantha Kerr, the phenomenal Australian forward, smashed the ball into the post after two good clearances from Misa Rodríguez, the Real Madrid goalkeeper, from a corner kick.

The advanced pressure from both the

and the madridistas prevented the game from flowing during the first leg of the match.

In Madrid, unable to get the ball played, only Olga Carmona, who started the clash as a left back and ended as a winger, and Athenea del Castillo left some flashes with several running dribbles that ended up frustrated by the English defense.

In the midst of that suffocating game, Claudia Zornoza made a mistake in a pass and gave the ball away in her own half to Lauren James, who controlled, advanced with the ball close to her foot, fixed the central defenders and filtered a final delivery for Kerr to stay alone with the concierge.

In the one-on-one, the Australian striker, as he had done in minute two, sent the ball to the post, this time to the right side of Misa's goal.

The pace in the pressure caused an even greater failure in the Chelsea goalkeeper.

Ann-Katrin Berger, who had come out of her goal to receive the ball, tried to connect with midfield, but her pass went straight to Caroline Weir.

The Scottish midfielder from Madrid was able to control, raise her head and place the gift in the back of the goal without the slightest opposition.

The goal invigorated Madrid, who began to win even more duels and more second plays, but Chelsea improved in the second half with the entry of Francesca Kirby.

The skilful English player replaced Jessie Fleming, although the

found no scoring chances until Ivana Andrés rudely collided with Reiten in the 59th minute in the Madrid box.

The maximum penalty, which Reiten herself launched, hit the post and then hit Misa's back to change direction and slip into the goal.

With the match more open, and less energy in the legs to keep up the pressure, the two teams found spaces to hurt their opponents.

At the edge of the end, in one of those plays, Olga Carmona dribbled past Jessica Carter and went one-on-one against Berger, but the German goalkeeper narrowed the space and covered her shot with a big slap.

Just a few minutes later, it was Misa who stole the goal from Kerr in another one-on-one and secured a draw for Madrid that still allows them to dream of getting past the Champions League group stage.

Everything now happens through Paris.

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