Breaking Lyon’s Reign: Barcelona vs. Wolfsburg in Women’s Champions League Final

To break the hegemony

Lyon have won six of the last seven editions of the Champions League. The only one who has been able to dispute his reign has been precisely a Barça team that won the trophy in 2021 with a spectacular win against Chelsea (4-0). The Barça team has also been able to reach four finals, three of them in a row, losing two against Lyon.

Before the irruption culé, the Wolfsburg He was the great rival of the French team: he won two titles between 2013 and 2014, and reached another three finals in 2016, 2018 and 2020, the three lost against Lyon. Therefore, this will be the sixth final for the German team in the top continental competition.

More freshness, more physical

What has changed about Barça, who lost overwhelmingly in Turin a year ago? At the end of the final, Alexia complained about the lack of physical background of her team, and that something had to do with the low level of the Spanish league. Before the big event in Endhoven, the culé captain has recognized an important improvement in this regard: “I think that this year physically we arrived better. The work done by the physical preparation department has been very personalized and it has been perfectly squared so that we arrive well at the end”Putellas highlighted in an interview with DAZN.

From the Turin final it seems that Paños, Paredes, León, Rolfö, Aitana, Patri Guijarro and Hansen will repeat. Lucy Bronze enters for Torrejón, Walsh for Alexia and up front the explosive Geyse-Paralluelo duo instead of Jenni Hermoso (she went to play in Mexico) and a Mariona Caldentey who could have some chance of starting.

big favorite

Barça was the top candidate before the season began and it is now in the final on its own merits. In the group stage he scored a record 29 goals (despite the loss to Bayern) before beating Roma and Chelsea in the qualifiers. Aitana Bonmatí has emerged as the great figure of this Barça in the absence of Alexia, although Caroline Graham Hansen She was decisive in the semifinals with a goal at the Camp Nou and another at Stamford Bridge.

Wolfsburg, despite the fact that they eliminated two coconuts like PSG and Arsenal and recently won the German Cup for the ninth consecutive year, is not the powerful team of other years. Bayern has cut its hegemony in the Bundesliga, and although it has two prestigious attackers such as Alex Popp (top scorer in the Bundesliga for the first time) and Ewa Pajor (the top scorer in this Champions League), in defense they will suffer with the offensive potential of culé , especially in front of Hansen.

And Alexia?

Everything achieved by the culé team has merit, taking into account that the two-time Ballon d’Or winner has been out of action for almost the entire season due to a torn cruciate ligament. He has had minutes in recent games, but the lack of rhythm seems to leave him out of the starting eleven, despite the fact that Jonatan Giráldez has assured this Friday that he is one hundred percent.

probable lineups

Barcelona: cloths; Bronze, Paredes, León, Rolfö; Walsh, Bonmatí, Guijarro: Graham Hansen, Geyse and Paralluelo.

Wolfsburg: Frohm’s; Wilms, Hendrich, Janssen, Rauch; Oberdorf, Lattwein; Huth, Roord, Popp; y Pajor.

Referee: Cheryl Foster (WAL).

Estadio: Philips Stadion (35,000 spectators).

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