Barcelona Femeni lose league game for the first time in 2 years

Barcelona have been beaten in a Liga F game for the first time since June 2021 thanks to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Madrid CFF on Sunday lunchtime.

The Catalans, who wrapped up a fourth consecutive league title in late April, have been untouchable in domestic Spanish football for so long until this month.

A recent 1-1 draw with Sevilla ended a lengthy winning streak that began nearly two years ago. Since losing to Atletico Madrid in the closing stages of the 2020/21 campaign, Barça went on to put together 62 straight league wins – including the whole of 2021/22.

The Sevilla game was still a 63rd unbeaten, followed by a 64th as Alexia Putellas, who has appeared off the bench in every match since returning from an ACL injury, and co beat Athletic Club.

But the monstrous run had to end at some point and it was Madrid CFF, not to be confused with Real Madrid, who managed to finally snap it in the final game of the season.

Zambian forward Racheal Kundananji scored twice for Madrid in quick succession towards the end of the first half. Putellas pulled one back or Barça within a couple of minutes of coming on. But, despite dominating possession over the 90 minutes, and managing 16 shots either on or off target and five others that were blocked, there was no way through to find an equaliser.

It means that Barcelona have finished the Liga F season five points shy of the maximum 90. It is actually the most league points they have dropped in a single campaign since 2018/19 when they finished runners-up to Atletico Madrid in the final standings.

Having also been unbeaten in the 2019/20 season that Covid-19 cut short, the Madrid loss is actually only Barcelona’s second in the league since May 2019 – four years ago.

However, the bigger focus will be on what is still to come. Barça are back in the Women’s Champions League final on 3 June, having reach the showpiece event for the third successive year and a fourth in five. They were beaten by Lyon this time last year and are hoping to re-take the trophy they won in such style over Chelsea in 2021 when they soon face Wolfsburg.

Read the latest Women's Champions League news here