Aitana Bonmatí is looking forward to renewing Barcelona’s “healthy rivalry” with Chelsea with the twist of facing former teammates Lucy Bronze and Keira Walsh this time.

Barça and Chelsea are meeting in the Champions League semifinal for the third consecutive year, with the first leg taking a place at the Johan Cruyff Stadium on Sunday.

Holders Barça have won the previous two meetings, while they also emerged victorious when the sides met in the 2021 final.

“There was a bigger gap in the final in Gothenburg, but the last two semifinals have been really even,” back-to-back Ballon d’Or winner Bonmatí said in a news conference.

“In the last two years, they have made a huge investment in the team. They have a great squad and it’s going to be tight.

“It’s the third time in a row we’ve met them at this stage. It’s a side I like facing, they’re hard-fought encounters and I really enjoy them.

“There is a big rivalry between us because over the last four or five years, there have been lot of big games between us. But it’s a healthy rivalry, not bad, in football terms.

“They are good games. In these games I always say we can enjoy the football because we have good opponent in front of us who make us better and better.”

Since last years semifinal between the two teams, Sonia Bompastor has replaced Emma Hayes as coach of the English side, while there has also been a managerial change at Barça, with Pere Romeu taking over from Jonatan Giráldez.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have signed both Bronze and Walsh from Barcelona in an attempt to help them win the Champions League for the first time.

Walsh and Bronze won the last two Champions Leagues playing alongside Bonmatí, and the midfielder says it will be strange to face them.

“They have Keira and Lucy now, so they are a better team, because they are good players,” she added.

“We miss them because they helped us a lot in the past. It will be strange to see them in blue. Last year they were here with us, trying to eliminate Chelsea in the semifinal.

“They know us, they know how we play, but I don’t know if it will be enough to plan how they will play against us, because we have different options. We are changing [since they have left] and there are new players here as well.”

Barça remain on course for second successive quadruple and are eyeing a fourth European crown in five years.

Despite that, defeats to Manchester City, Levante and Real Madrid have raised some questions about the team’s form this season.

However, Bonmatí feels it’s now, at the business end of the campaign, when Barça come alive.

“We feel really good,” she said. “We are in a good moment physically and also confident in terms of how we’re playing.

“This is the moment of the season we all enjoy, the players and staff, these big games. It’s these games that make us great and that show us the level we are at and where we want to get to.

“I think we’re in a good moment but we know who we’re up against, and we know it won’t be easy.

“This is a seventh successive semifinal. It is historic what this team has achieved. I am lucky to have played in all of them.

“I am very proud of the work put in by the whole team and the club in recent years. I hope it doesn’t end here this year and we can reach another final.”