Lyon have won the Women’s Champions League for a record eighth time, after beating Barcelona 3-1 in Turin. At a roasting hot Allianz Arena, it was Ada Hegerberg and co that caught Barca cold, racing into an early 3-0 lead before doing enough to see off a fightback.
Just as they did in 2019, Lyon got the better of the Spanish giants in the final and with this historic win, Lyon boss Sonia Bompastor became the first woman to win the Champions League as both a player and a manager, having tasted success on the pitch a decade ago.
This was a Champions League final that was packed with excitement, between undoubtedly the two greatest teams on the planet. Lyon won 19 of their 20 Ligue 1 matches, drawing the other and conceded just eight goals along the way. Meanwhile Barcelona’s domestic record was even more impressive - winning 30 from 30, scoring 159 goals.
It may have been a neutral venue, played at the Juventus Stadium, but given 15,000 Barca fans travelled from Spain, the crowd was heavily in their favour.
Hederberg, the 2018 Ballon d’Or winner faced off against the current best player in the world Alexia Putellas but it was Amandine Henry who stole the headlines early on as she thumped in a 30-yard strike into the top corner to give Lyon the lead.
It was a goal worthy of winning any Champions League final but Barca weren’t going to lie down easily. In the 2019 final, they were 4-0 down within half an hour, but they’ve improved massively since then.
Aitana Bonmati pulled the ball back for Jenni Hermoso, who couldn’t beat Christiane Endler in the Lyon goal. Minutes later, Hermoso looked certain to score as the ball was squared across the box, but she couldn’t find a finish under pressure.
If Hederberg had anything left to prove, she put herself at the centre of the spotlight in Turin as she scored her 59th goal in the competition's history. Selma Bacha put in a wonderful cross that found the Norwegian at the back post, and she connected perfectly with a bullet header that flew into the net.
Nightmares of that defeat three years ago would have been fresh for the Barcelona stars, and things got worse after the water break. With the temperature hitting 32C, somehow they were caught cold as Catarina Macario tapped in her ninth goal of this season’s campaign.
If the nightmare start had shocked them, the Spaniard’s needed their superhero. The best in the world, Putellas, volleyed in a cross to drag her side back into the final and bag her 11th goal of this Champions League season. Suddenly, the crowd had something to cheer.
Lyon attempted to control the game in the second half but they had a scare when Patricia Guijarro shot from the halfway line and saw her effort cannon off the bar. It was a strike of the highest quality on the biggest stage, and it was so close to dragging the Spaniards back into this tie.
Ana-Marie Crnogorcevic volleyed wide late on and with that, Barca’s hopes of defending their crowd faded. With their record-breaking attendances along this journey, Barcelona have changed women’s football forever, but ultimately, in the final, they just came up short.
Lyon were for so long the dominant force in the game, until the Catalans came along - but now, they are back on top.
The French champions are now the champions of Europe and have ripped Barcelona’s crown right off their head.
