Roman Abramovich watches on as Chelsea lose to Barcelona
Roman Abramovich makes a rare trip to watch Chelsea play as owner jets in to see their Women in the Champions League final in Gothenburg… before consoling Emma Hayes and her distraught players after their thrashing by Barcelona
- Chelsea lost 4-0 to Barcelona in Women’s Champions League final on Sunday
- Club’s Russian owner Roman Abramovich watched from stands in Gothenburg
- He visited the players and manager Emma Hayes following the defeat
- Abramovich last watched Chelsea’s men’s team in Krasnodar in October
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich took a rare opportunity to watch his team in action as they lost the Women’s Champions League final to Barcelona on Sunday night.
Abramovich was in the stands at the Gamla Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden to watch Chelsea slump to a 4-0 defeat.
The Russian billionaire, 54, visited the players and manager Emma Hayes in the dressing room following the match.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich watches his team in the Women’s Champions League final against Barcelona in Gothenburg, Sweden on Sunday night
Chelsea’s Russian owner applauds along with UEFA president Aleksandar Ceferin (right)
Abramovich chats with Chelsea manager Emma Hayes in the dressing room after the game
‘Our owner came in to see is, and all the girls were very quick to tell him that we’ll be back here and we’ll work hard on the training pitch to make sure we do that,’ Hayes said.
‘If I know this group well enough I know that they mean those words. This is just another step in our journey.’
Chelsea were on for a Quadruple having already won the Women’s Super League title earlier this month and the League Cup in March.
But they were overwhelmed by Barcelona, conceding four times in the opening 36 minutes, a position from which they couldn’t recover in the club’s first-ever Champions League final.
Hayes said the Chelsea players told Abramovich they would make the European final again
The Chelsea owner reacts after Barcelona’s Carline Graham Hansen scored their fourth goal
They can still complete a domestic Treble by winning the FA Women’s Cup and play Everton in the fifth round on Thursday.
Abramovich, Chelsea’s owner since 2003, seldom gets the opportunity to watch the team play after he chose not to renew his UK visa when it expired in 2018.
He last saw the men’s team play away to Russian club Krasnodar in the Champions League group stages back in October.
Abramovich also attended the UEFA Europa League final between Chelsea and Arsenal in Baku, Azerbaijan, in May 2019.
Abramovich was in the stands to watch Chelsea’s men’s team play Krasnodar back in October
He was in Baku in May 2019 when Chelsea defeated Arsenal to win the UEFA Europa League
He was quick to withdraw Chelsea from the deeply unpopular European Super League last month after hundreds of supporters protested outside Stamford Bridge.
The club had been one of six from the Premier League to sign up for the breakaway competition, designed to rival UEFA’s Champions League.
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