England superstar Lucy Bronze is heading to European powerhouse Barcelona, with the club announcing the news Saturday.

The 30-year-old defender signed a two-year deal with Barcelona, joining the team on free transfer from Manchester City.

Bronze made 111 appearances in her two-year tenure with the Women’s Super League club, taking home five trophies.

Representing England at this summer’s European Championship, Bronze will connect with her new team after the tournament.

Bronze joins Barcelona on the heels of a landmark season, with the club completing a domestic treble, winning all 30 of their league matches while making a Champions League final run before falling to Lyon in the title game.

Deyna Castellanos has signed with Manchester City, the club announced Friday.

The 23-year-old striker is joining the club on a three-year deal starting July 1. She previously had been with Atlético Madrid.

The Venezuelan native spent her college years at Florida State, scoring 48 goals in 82 appearances and earning one of the final three spots for FIFA Best Player of the Year in 2017.

Castellanos joined Madrid in 2020 and scored 23 times in 58 appearances for the club. During the 2020-21 season, she helped the team win the Supercopa de España Femenina.

She will wear No. 10 for City, the same number she wore when playing for the Seminoles.

“I’m very happy to be a Manchester City player – it is a huge move for myself in my career and I can’t wait for it to begin,” she said. “Looking around at all the facilities here, it is just amazing – I believe that this Club will help to improve me as a player, and I hope that I can help Manchester City too.

“The style of football that the team play was very attractive to me and I feel as though I can fit in very well here, whilst also being challenged to develop and grow.”

Manchester City coach Gareth Taylor added that the team is “thrilled” to have Castellanos on board.

“She is a player we have admired for a long time and we’re so pleased that we have been able to finally bring her to the club,” he said.

Castellanos also has been a member of the Venezuelan national team system since childhood. Last year, she was one of many players who alleged that coach Kenneth Zsermeta had sexually harassed and abused them.

Chelsea is set to face off against Manchester City in the FA Cup final Sunday, with both clubs looking to add to their 2022 trophy haul.

How to watch:

The marquee matchup will air Sunday, May 15, at 9:30 a.m. ET on ESPN+.

Where:

Chelsea and Manchester City will take center stage at Wembley Stadium in front of what is predicted to be a record crowd for women’s football.

The standing attendance record for the Women’s FA Cup final is 45,423, set by Chelsea and Arsenal at Wembley Stadium in 2018.

Ahead of the title matchup, the FA Cup announced that over 50,000 tickets already had been sold.

What’s at stake for Chelsea:

The Blues will look to defend their FA Cup trophy from last season and add to their 2022 Women’s Super League title. Should Chelsea prove victorious Sunday, the club will have won five of the previous six domestic championships, extending their dominant streak.

Chelsea is coming off an emphatic 4-2 win over Manchester United backed by a stunning second-half performance by Sam Kerr to lock up the WSL table.

If Chelsea’s offense gets going as it did against United, they will be a hard team to beat.

What’s at stake for Manchester City:

Manchester City downed Chelsea in the duo’s last championship showdown, taking home the FA Women’s League Cup in March.

In search of a fourth FA Cup title, City will hope to extend its 13-game winning streak to add to its 2022 silverware.

Manchester City cruised to a 4-1 victory over West Ham on Saturday, booking their ticket to the FA Cup final.

West Ham put Man City under pressure early in the semifinal matchup, but two quick goals from Ellen White and Chloe Kelly quieted the hosts’ momentum.

Kelly’s first-half finish marks the 24-year-old’s first goal since returning from her ACL injury.

Lisa Evans cut Man City’s lead in half, beating the goalkeeper one-on-one to give West Ham hope heading into the break.

Following the half, however, Man City continued to pull away, with Lauren Hemp scoring a pair of goals to hand her side the 4-1 victory.

Man City will face the winner of Sunday’s semifinal between Chelsea and Arsenal in the final at Wembley Stadium on May 15. The club last hoisted the competition’s trophy in 2020.

Manchester City came from behind to defeat back-to-back champions Chelsea 3-1 in the Continental Cup final on Saturday.

A trio of second-half goals lifted Manchester City to victory after a challenging opening 45 minutes.

Sam Kerr got Chelsea on the board in the 34th minute, collecting a loose ball in the box before slotting home the go-ahead goal for the Blues.

Manchester City responded quickly after the break, with Caroline Weir equalizing in the 49th minute with a close-range shot inside the box.

Manchester City took the lead less than 10 minutes later when Ellen White tapped in a deflected shot by Lauren Hemp.

Weir padded Manchester City’s lead with her second goal in the 69th minute, volleying in a loose ball off a corner kick to put her side up 3-1.

The win gives head coach Gareth Taylor his second trophy with Manchester City.

Georgia Stanway has become Manchester City’s all-time leading goal scorer after notching a hat-trick in the club’s 8-0 thrashing over Nottingham Forest in Saturday’s Women’s FA Cup fourth-round matchup.

With 64 Man City goals, Stanway surpasses Nikita Parris’s previously held record of 63 goals in City colors.

“I’m so pleased for her [Stanway] because she’s showing real hot form at the moment,” said Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor following Saturday’s win. “She’s been great to work with, particularly her attitude and application to try new positions and affect the play wherever she plays. I’m really delighted for her today.”

Stanway has been with Manchester City since 2015, making her debut with the club at just 16 years old.

With Saturday’s victory, the City striker and the rest of the team advance to the Women’s FA Cup fifth round, set for Monday.

The final episode of Season 1 of The Soccer Show dropped Wednesday, with Dave and Haley recapping the ending of the FA WASL season and welcoming Manchester City’s Janine Beckie as their final guest. 

The Canadian Superstar and Man City utility knife stopped by to discuss the rivalry between City and Chelsea, finding her form late in the season, and what it was like playing alongside USWNT star Sam Mewis. 

“It’s definitely a fiery rivalry,” Beckie said on the show while discussing the title race between City and Chelsea. “You make it difficult when you leave the fate of the league up to another team, so we didn’t take care of business when we should have and had some pretty poor performances that resulted in draws early on in the season that came back to bite us a little bit. At the end of the day, we didn’t do enough to win and they did, so gotta tip our hat to them.”

She adds that it was odd playing opposite of Canadian National Team teammate Jesse Flemming, who is a midfielder for Chelsea, especially when they were warming up and would run into each other.

In regards to finding her form, Beckie admits that it was a bit difficult switching positions all season. 

“It’s difficult because versatility can be a double-edged sword, you don’t really get the chance to master one position,” she said, while maintaining that she tries her best to see it as a positive. “I do think it brings a lot of value to the team and I’m happy to do a job for the team when I need to.”

“Unfortunately my form came a little late to make the impact I would have liked to have had.”

But finding her form also came alongside linking up with USWNT star Sam Mewis, which Beckie says is a dream come true. 

“Of a lot of the players in the world, Sam is definitely one I would have had on my list as dream teammates, so to be able to play with her has been really great,” Beckie said. “She is the ultimate competitor, is so competitive. I love it. She’s a winner. She just wants to win and She’ll do whatever it takes to win and you can’t really complain about that as a teammate.”

“She’s come in and she’s had an impact massively on the club. Scored some really big goals for us and had some really big performances.” 

Catch the full show below, and be sure to stick around for a special announcement, as Haley announces which FAWSL team she’ll be supporting in the future.

Chelsea’s 2-0 victory over Tottenham on Wednesday kept the club atop the Super League standings going into the final weekend of play.

Despite a disciplined defensive performance from the Spurs, Chelsea managed to grab a point in each half to secure the win.

Sam Kerr scored both goals for Chelsea, the first coming five minutes before halftime. The Australian forward snuck in a bouncing cross at the far post to give her team the lead.

Early in the second half, Kerr stuck again — this time rifling in a rebound off her own header to put Chelsea up 2-0.

Chelsea will go on to face Reading in their final game of the season. A win on Sunday would secure Chelsea the FAWSL title; a loss, and a win by Manchester City in their game against West Ham, means the title could be decided on goal differential.

Relegation also hangs in the balance this weekend.

After an Aston Villa-West Ham draw last weekend, the relegation battle has zeroed in on Bristol City and Aston Villa.

Bristol City sits at the bottom of the table with a substantial disadvantage in goal differential. The club needs a win against Brighton on Sunday to keep their Super League hopes alive.

The WSL title decider between Manchester City and Chelsea was everything fans hoped it would be. 

Despite being somewhat overshadowed by the European Super League drama, the two teams still managed to put on a show and play to a 2-2 draw.

The first half was highlighted by bright attacking and at times chaotic defending. 

Chelsea struck first off a header by Sam Kerr in the 25th minute.

Four minutes later, Manchester City responded with a goal from Chloe Kelly.

Pernille Harder broke the tie when she capitalized on her own penalty in the 33rd minute to give the Blues a 2-1 lead heading into the half. 

Not one to go quietly, Manchester City capitalized in the 75th minute off a Lauren Hemp goal to even the score at 2-2.

Heading into the final 10 the Blues keeper Ann-Katrin Berger made a monster save to deny Manchester City their third after a bullet header from Lauren Hemp.

A foul on Jess Carter in the 86th minute led to a free kick for Chelsea that they were unable to capitalize on. 

In the 94th minute, a Lucy Bronze header went just wide of the post to keep the score locked at doubles. It would remain tied as the horn sounded to end the game.

With the tie, Chelsea keeps their two point lead over City in the FAWSL standings with two games remaining.

All eyes were on the FA Women’s Super League this Friday as the much-anticipated contest between Manchester United and Manchester City took place. The two squads went into the match neck-in-neck in the table, with Manchester United holding onto second place by a mere two points. Hot on their heels was City, who may have knocked “Big Three” squad Arsenal out of the title race last Sunday in a 2-1 win.

On Friday, Manchester City cruised to a 3-0 win thanks to goals from Lucy Bronze, Lauren Hemp, and Caroline Weir, adding three points to leap the Reds in the standings.

With the win, City improves to 10-1-3, with only two points now separating them from first-place Chelsea.

 

HERE’S HOW THE ACTION UNFOLDED:

After a purely defensive start to the first half, it was Manchester City that would draw first blood as they were awarded a corner kick in the 23rd minute of the match. As soon as the ball was lofted in, it was popped up into the air, and a scramble in the United box ensued. Amidst the chaos, a City player was able to redirect a header to the feet of Lucy Bronze, who used her first touch to bury a shot past United goalkeeper Mary Earps. The goal was Bronze’s second of the season, giving City a 1-0 edge over United.

Later, in the 38th minute, an attempted bicycle kick from Ellen White came dangerously close to giving City a 2-0 lead, but an excellent save from Mary Earps would deny the forward the scoring chance. Though United would avoid a two-goal deficit, an unfortunate injury would occur minutes later as Leah Galton was taken down in the midfield. In visible pain, Galton was helped off the field in what seemed like an injury to her ankle or lower leg. The loss of Galton comes as another significant blow to Manchester United’s FAWSL title hopes, as the squad is already without Tobin Heath for the foreseeable future.

Manchester City held their opponents to just three first-half shots, only one of which was on goal. Meanwhile, United’s defense sustained several attacks, with City getting off eight shots, two of which were on target. Despite this, City’s one-goal lead provided little to no sense of security given the offensive talents of United.

However, it was City that would enter the second half with guns blazing as Lauren Hemp played in a cross from the left flank, meeting Ellen White in stride. With her first touch, White fired off a shot on goal, but a diving save by Earps would render her scoreless for the second time during the match.

City would finally double their lead in the 71st minute when Chloe Kelly intercepted a clearance attempt by the United defense, cutting the ball to her left foot and taking a shot from distance. Earps made the initial save, but unfortunately for United, the ball deflected into the path of Lauren Hemp, who volleyed home City’s second goal of the match to provide a much-needed cushion.

United’s handful of opportunities came from none other than Christen Press, who was twice charged by City goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck to maintain the clean sheet. In her first chance, Press beat a City defender just outside the eighteen, with Roebuck abandoning the net in an attempt to make the save. Before Roebuck could get in front of the ball, Press fired a shot that sailed above the crossbar and out of bounds.

The forward would find herself in a similar circumstance later in the match when a ball was played from midfield into her path. In just one touch, Press broke into the eighteen, and again Roebuck left the net to deny United a chance to cut into City’s lead. In an impressive feat, Roebuck was able to get in front of Press’s shot, deflecting the ball out of bounds.

To conclude an already-dazzling performance by Manchester City, Caroline Weir added her name to the scoresheet in the 84th minute, showcasing her impressive footwork to beat a City defender before lofting a shot just over the fingertips of Earps and into the back of the net. The goal was just another reminder of Weir’s composure and precision, talents that have made her quite the asset in City’s midfield as of late.

As the final whistle blew, City dealt a damaging blow to United’s hopes for a title, defeating the Reds 3-0 to continue their winning ways. Having dropped their last two contests, Casey Stoney and her squad will be desperate to remedy their lackluster showing in the attacking third should they want to remain at or near the top of the table.