Emma Hayes is a tactical genius - but Alexia Putellas will struggle to sleep after that! Winners and losers as Chelsea turn over Barcelona to take giant step towards Champions League final

Erin Cuthbert has been one of Chelsea's best and most consistent performers this season. However, she probably doesn't get the credit she deserves for that, maybe because of the battling midfield role she plays as opposed to one of a headline-grabbing forward.

Her superb strike against Barcelona in this first leg could go a long way in helping her to get that recognition. It wasn't just that which made her performance so impressive in Catalunya either, with her also ranking second for tackles won and possession won as Chelsea kept an unlikely clean sheet.

Cuthbert's leadership was another vital part of an incredible day's work and the Scot could well be leading her team out in a Champions League final next month, if she can guide them to another positive result at Stamford Bridge.

If Barcelona were able to pick which player they would want a golden chance in the final minute of the game to fall to, Putellas would possibly be that player. We're talking about a two-time Ballon d'Or winner, one of the very best footballers on this planet, someone who has won almost everything possible in her career to date.

Yet, when the ball fell to her in a fantastic position in stoppage-time on Saturday, she missed. The opportunity was there to make it 1-1 with the final kick of the game and she somehow sent her shot wide of the goal. It was a moment that capped a difficult afternoon for Putellas, one she started on Barca's bench.

That will have been a frustration in itself for one of the game's best but she's had some injury troubles this season and has her work cut out trying to re-establish herself in Barca's best XI, following the arrival of Keira Walsh during her ACL rehab and the way that others have been performing, too.

That she couldn't take this opportunity to be a stoppage-time hero will be even tougher to get over, with her sure to be replaying the moment over and over in her head for a little while yet.

Chelsea needed the perfect game plan to beat Barca and that is exactly what Hayes crafted. The manager dusted off the 5-3-2 set-up that has not been seen for quite a while, shifted attacker-turned-defender Niamh Charles into an unfamiliar role in the back three and deployed Ashley Lawrence to her left in a move that was extremely effective in limiting Caroline Graham Hansen's influence. On the opposite side, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd was excellent up and down the right, while Jess Carter, starting just inside of her, was a colossus in a back three that seems to suit her more than a back four.

Further forward, there was a big question of what to do with Lauren James and Mayra Ramirez and Hayes decided to start them together, which worked a treat. They were never going to steal the show away at the European champions but the way James was able to give Chelsea some respite when she got on the ball, and how Ramirez caused problems with her physicality, proved the perfect formula.

The players deserve a lot of credit for executing Hayes' plan so well, too, and the manager will hope both can repeat this success with their approach to the second leg.

Putellas wasn't the only top quality player guilty of missing a big chance to give Barca a more favourable result. Paralluelo has scored 30 goals in all competitions for the Catalans this season, including six in the Champions League, but she lacked that clinical touch when Chelsea came to town.

The big chance came five minutes from time and she failed to connect with the ball as she would've liked, as Graham Hansen's cross bounced off her shin and out for a goal-kick. That, however, wasn't the only disappointing moment from a 20-year-old who has so often looked at home on the biggest of stages.

Paralluelo's decision-making in general was off, with there a particular moment in the second half that stood out in that sense, when she opted to have a shot at goal from the edge of the box rather than feeding a wide open team-mate to her left. As a young player, she's still growing and improving but sadly this just wasn't her day, as was the case for most of the Barca team.

Ashley Lawrence arrived at Chelsea last year with quite the reputation. Indeed, she had been a consistently excellent performer at full-back for Paris Saint-Germain for six years and thrived for Canada on the international stage, shining as they won Olympic gold in 2021.

Her first season as a Chelsea player has been a little stop-start, though. She's been in and out of the starting XI throughout and hasn't been able to gather much momentum as a result, or show everyone just what she's capable of.

Yet, Saturday was a glimpse at that. Naturally a right-back, Lawrence was deployed as a left wing-back and there was a lot being asked of her. When Chelsea were without the ball, she needed to help Charles thwart Graham Hansen as best she could. When the Blues had possession, the Canadian suddenly had to get forward as much as possible to be an outlet for her team. She did it all absolutely brilliantly.

The records that tumbled when the full-time whistle went on Saturday were incredible. It was Barca's first defeat of the season, in April, in their 38th game. It was a first home loss in more than five years. It was the first time that they had failed to score in a match for two years and the first time at home in over five years. When was the last time they failed to have a shot on target in a match? Whoever can find that stat will deserve a prize.

Barca can still come back from this 1-0 deficit, of course. We're talking about a team that has scored 164 goals in all competitions this season, one that held all of those above records for a long time before this singular result. They are still one of the best teams in the world, if not the best team in the world. Moreover, they are the reigning European champions and a win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on April 27 - a result they achieved last season - could put them in a position to defend that title.

However, the aura that has built up around them, having reached four UWCL finals in five years and absolutely dominated the domestic game in Spain, took a little hit on Saturday. On show was a blueprint there of how to beat them and how to frustrate them. There are only a select number of teams that can execute it like Chelsea did and a little bit of luck is needed, too. But Chelsea's win will have encouraged many and proven to them that Barca are not impossible to beat.