The 2016–17 season was the 29th season in the history of FC Barcelona Femení and 16th season as FC Barcelona's official women's football section. It was the last of eleven seasons managed by Xavi Llorens. Barcelona became the first Spanish team to reach the semifinals of the UEFA Women's Champions League in its fifth appearance on a row in the competition.
Summary Background and preseason In 2015–16 Barcelona had ended the season with no titles for the first time since the 2009–10 season: Athletic Bilbao had won the league by a one-point margin and Atlético Madrid defeated Barcelona in the national cup's final. To strengthen the team Barcelona signed Andressa Alves from Montpellier and Line Røddik Hansen from European champion Olympique Lyonnais (though she hadn't taken part in the European campaign as she had started the 2015–16 season in Rosengård) as well as Ange N'Guessan, the team's first African player. Leila Ouahabi returned after three seasons in Valencia, and with the season started Vicky Losada also rejoined Barça following the end of the English championship. On the other hand, the Garrote sisters and Cristina Baudet were transferred to nearby Espanyol, Andrea Falcón and Esther Romero to rivals Atlético and Valencia and Andreia Norton returned to Portugal.
Season Barcelona started the season with nine consecutive victories on a 34–1 goal-average before conceding a draw against newly promoted Betis. Next it defeated defending champion Athletic, which was already falling behind in the table. The team ended 2016 with a draw against Valencia and a 2–1 defeat against Atlético in Vicente Calderón before a crowd of 13,935, losing the lead in the table to the latter. Meanwhile, Barça had made it to the Champions League's quarterfinals after overcoming Minsk and Twente (which they had already faced in the same round in the previous season) with wide away wins. Next they faced quarterfinals-regular Rosengård.
With Atlético remaining unbeaten, a 2–0 defeat against Santa Teresa kept Barcelona away from the lead. However the team then chained an 11-wins streak and reached Atlético in the top of the table in April with 5 games remaining. In the meantime Barcelona defeated Rosengård both in Barcelona and Malmö, becoming the first Spanish team to reach the Champions League's semifinals, where they lost both games against Paris Saint-Germain, which had already ousted them in the past season's quarterfinals. Following the elimination Barcelona attained its largest win in the season, a 13–0 victory over Oiartzun, which would end relegated.
After defeating Valencia in Paterna and with long-time manager Xavi Llorens having just announced stepping down the position following the end of the season,Agencia EFE Barcelona faced undefeated Atlético in the second-to-last game on equal points and a much larger goal average: a win would make them either mathematically or virtually champions. However the game ended in a 1–1 draw, and Barcelona was forced to depend on an Atlético blunder. Not only did Atlético defeat Real Sociedad but Barcelona lost 2–1 to Levante and thus they again ended the championship as runners-up with 75 points, their least in the 16-team Primera División by one point. On the other hand, Jennifer Hermoso was the competition's top scorer with 35 goals, the major goal-scoring record by a Barcelona player in the same period.
In the Copa de la Reina Barcelona qualified for the Final Four in the Ciudad del Fútbol after overcoming Real Sociedad in the extra time. There it first defeated Valencia in the semifinals before facing Atlético in a rematch of the previous edition's final, which Barcelona had lost 3–2. However, this time Barcelona defeated Atlético 4–1 and won its first nationwide title since the 2014–15 League.
Transfers +InDate Position Player Moving from Reference Notes June 28, 2016 Midfielder Andressa Alves Montpellier Marca June 29, 2016 Defender Leila Ouahabi Valencia Sport July 2, 2016 Goalkeeper Andrea Giménez Espanyol Mundo Deportivo July 8, 2016 Defender Line Røddik Hansen Olympique Lyonnais Mundo Deportivo August 12, 2016 Forward Ange N'Guessan Apollon Limassol Mundo Deportivo November 11, 2016 Midfielder Vicky Losada Arsenal As
+OutDate Position Player Moving to Reference Notes June 29, 2016 Midfielder Esther Romero Valencia SuperdeporteJune 30, 2016Goalkeeper Kaeli Anne Schmidt Levante Las PlanasLa VanguardiaForward Cristina Baudet EspanyolFC BarcelonaJuly 4, 2016 Defender Núria Garrote Futfem Midfielder Pilar Garrote July 6, 2016 Forward Andrea Falcón Atlético Madrid Mundo Deportivo August 2, 2016 Midfielder Andreia Norton Braga Braga TV
Squad First team
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" |- ! style="background:#26559B; color:#FFF000; " width="40" | ! style="background:#26559B; color:#FFF000; " width="40" | ! style="background:#26559B; color:#FFF000; " width="40" | ! style="background:#26559B; color:#FFF000; " | Name ! style="background:#26559B; color:#FFF000; " width="85" | Age ! style="background:#26559B; color:#FFF000; " width="85" | ! style="background:#26559B; color:#FFF000; " width="85" | ! style="background:#26559B; color:#FFF000; " width="85" | Goals |- !colspan="8"style="background:#26559B; color:#FFF000; " | Goalkeepers |- | 1 | GK || || align="left"|Laura Ràfols (second captain) || || 2007 || || 0 |- colspan="8" style="background:#eaecee" | 13 | GK || || align="left"|Sandra Paños || || 2015 || 60 || 0 |- | 25 | GK || || align="left"|Andrea Giménez || || 2016 || 1 || 0 |- !colspan="8"style="background:#26559B; color:#FFF000; " | Defenders |- colspan="8" style="background:#eaecee" | 5 | DF || || align="left"|Melanie Serrano (third captain) || || 2003 || ||
| 4 | DF || || align="left"|Marta Unzué (captain) || || 2006 || || |- colspan="8" style="background:#eaecee" | 18 | DF || || align="left"|Marta Torrejón || || 2013 || 158 || 11
| 3 | DF || || align="left"|Ruth García || || 2013 || 154 || 11 |- colspan="8" style="background:#eaecee" | 23 | DF || || align="left"|Leire Landa || || 2014 || 38 || 0
| 2 | DF || || align="left"|Ane Bergara || || 2015 || 45 || 4 |- colspan="8" style="background:#eaecee" | 15 | DF || || align="left"|Leila Ouahabi || || 2011 || ||
| 6 | DF || || align="left"|Line Røddik Hansen || || 2016 || 29 || 1 |- !colspan="8"style="background:#26559B; color:#FFF000; " | Midfielders |- colspan="8" style="background:#eaecee" | 16 | MF || || align="left"|Vicky Losada || || 2006 || ||
| 8 | MF || || align="left"|Míriam Diéguez || || 2011 || || |- colspan="8" style="background:#eaecee" | 7 | MF || || align="left"|Gemma Gili || || 2012 || ||
| 11 | MF || || align="left"|Alexia Putellas || || 2012 || || |- colspan="8" style="background:#eaecee" | 17 | MF || || align="left"|Irene del Río || || 2015 || 42 || 10
| 12 | MF || || align="left"|Patricia Guijarro || || 2015 || 61 || 11 |- colspan="8" style="background:#eaecee" | 22 | MF || || align="left"|Andressa Alves || || 2016 || 26 || 9
| 24 | MF || || align="left"|Aitana Bonmatí || || 2016 || 21 || 5 |- !colspan="8"style="background:#26559B; color:#FFF000; " | Forwards |- colspan="8" style="background:#eaecee" | 20 | FW || || align="left"|Olga García || || 2010 || ||
| 10 | FW || || align="left"|Jenni Hermoso || || 2013 || 124 || 93 |- colspan="8" style="background:#eaecee" | 14 | FW || || align="left"|Sandra Hernández || || 2014 || 37 || 8
| 9 | FW || || align="left"|Mariona Caldentey || || 2014 || 70 || 20 |- colspan="8" style="background:#eaecee" | 19 | FW || || align="left"|Bárbara Latorre || || 2015 || 69 || 27
| 21 | FW || || align="left"|Ange N'Guessan || || 2016 || 20 || 4
Reserve team Players from the B team eligible to train and play with the main squad.
Friendlies
ASPTT Summer Tour
Competitions
Numbers in brackets in league games show the team's position in the table following the match
Pre-season
Copa Catalunya
Primera División
Results summary
Results by round
League table
Matches
UEFA Women's Champions League
Knockout rounds
Post-season Copa de la Reina
Statistics
Overall
.PlayerTotalDisciplineNotesAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGoalkeepers1GKLaura Ràfols70000+1010900013GKSandra Paños2303010703402025GKAndrea Giménez000010001000Defenders2DFAne Bergara3000110041003DFRuth García250302070370704DFMarta Unzué23+24301+1080384105DFMelanie Serrano17+21101+1040261306DFLine Røddik Hansen18+10001+11802913015DFLeila Ouahabi19+30301+11713420018DFMarta Torrejón24+303011823931023DFLeire Landa000000000000Midfielders7MFGemma Gili10+842+11103+20275208MFMíriam Diéguez18+50101+10503102011MFAlexia Putellas27+21031248042151012MFPatricia Guijarro14+621+101+100+402820016MFVicky Losada2043100402752017MFIrene del Río5+620+201+12001540022MFAndressa Alves15+571000522693024MFAitana Bonmatí3+1020+111+120+1017510Forwards9FWMariona Caldentey14+43301+132+202761010FWJenni Hermoso26+135321+158440462014FWSandra Hernández2+21001000511019FWBárbara Latorre2+2160+311+120+7234111020FWOlga García14+13140+301+143+2037181021FWAnge N'Guessan4+15300000+2120400Own goals (1)
References