Two Swedes settle for the Champions League title in football.
Will it be Fridolina Rolfö and the reigning winners Barcelona who take another title, or will Emma Holmgren and most of the champions Lyon bark?
Here is the most important thing to keep track of before Saturday’s final in front of at least 35,000 spectators.
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What: Champions League final in football, ladies.
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Var: Juventus Stadium, Turin, Italy.
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When: Saturday at 19.
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Tv: SVT2, SVT Play, Dazn, Youtube.
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These are two of the real giants of women’s football that make up in the Champions League final. On the one hand: Lyon, the powerhouse of recent decades in Europe, which has won the most Champions League titles of all time (7) and which has been in ten of the last twelve finals. On the other: Barcelona, who in recent years have put together an equally star-studded and powerful team. Last year’s Champions League title, after a 4-0 overrun by Chelsea in the final, showed that they are already Europe’s, and probably the world’s, best club team.
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The teams also met in the final three years ago. Then Lyon was the big favorite and won with a clear 4-1. Now, despite the history, the French team beats the inferior.
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A Swedish player will take his first Champions League title in his career, that thing is for sure. Fridolina Rolfö left German Wolfsburg for Barcelona before this season, and has been successful despite the toughest possible competition. Although Rolfö is most comfortable as a striker or offensive midfielder, she has shown great flexibility in the Barcelona shirt. The 28-year-old has not infrequently started as a left-back, but in a team as dominant as Barcelona (the team won all matches in the league this season) it is basically an attacking position, and Rolfö has scored nine goals this season. The Swede has played in all of Barcelona’s Champions League matches and started eight of them.
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Goalkeeper Emma Holmgren has a much more hidden role in Lyon. The 25-year-old has a clear role as a backup to the Chilean star goalkeeper Christiane Endler, and has only played three league matches and one cup match. On Saturday, she will once again have to settle for one with a place on the bench.
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+ The team’s path to the final
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For the first time, the ladies’ Champions League has been decided with an initial group game. Barcelona took first place in Group C, ahead of Arsenal, Hoffenheim and Køge, after six straight victories. In the quarter-final against Real Madrid, it was a total of 8-3 (3-1, 5-2) while German Wolfsburg offered tougher opposition in the semifinals, where Barcelona eventually won with a total of 5-3 (5-1, 0-2). The loss in the return against Wolfsburg was by the way Barcelona’s first after 45 straight victories.
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Lyon won five matches and lost one (against Bayern Munich) in Group D, which otherwise included Benfica and BK Häcken. In the quarter-finals, it was then 4-3 (1-2, 3-1) in a tough meeting with Juventus before Lyon beat their French rival Paris Saint Germain in the semifinals with 5-3 (3-2, 2-1).
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Both in the quarter-final against Real Madrid (91,553 spectators) and in the semi-final against Wolfsburg (91,648), Barcelona attracted a world record audience for women’s football, and the whole play-off has been a great grandstand success. Seven of eight quarter-final teams played on their clubs’ men’s arenas, and both Paris Saint-Germain (43,254) and Wolfsburg (22,057) broke their own audience records in the spring.
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The final at Juventus Stadium, which seats just over 40,000 spectators, was still not sold out on Thursday, but the organizers told TT that 35,000 tickets were used. Only once before has there been such a high audience figure in a final on the women’s side: 2012 when Lyon beat Frankfurt 2-0 in front of 50,212 spectators at the Olympic Stadium in Munich.
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It is crowded with profiles in both teams. In Barcelona you can name as many as you like, but among the many stars – Rolfö, Aitana Bonmatí, “Mapi” León, Jennifer Hermoso, Caroline Graham Hansen are just a few – Alexia Putellas still stands out. The 28-year-old Spanish national team star leads the shooting league in this year’s tournament (ten goals) and is the one who will lead the way to the Champions League title. Last year, she received the Ballon d’Or and was also named the world’s best player at the International Football Association’s (Fifa) annual gala.
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Lyon have an experienced team full of players with well-stocked trophy collections, such as Amandine Henry and Wendie Renard. But it is still impossible to ignore Ada Hegerberg, the Norwegian who has scored the most goals in the history of the Champions League (58 goals in 59 matches). The 26-year-old made a comeback in the autumn after a serious injury that has kept her away since January 2020. However, she has not shown much ring rust but instead contributed to Lyons’ final place with five new Champions League goals.
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