The final of the Women’s Soccer Champions League will be played on Saturday at 8 pm in Turin.
Encountering the former and the present giant.
Such could be described as Saturday’s final of the Women’s Champions League, where Lyon, who took a record seven Champions League victories, and Barcelona, the reigning champion Barcelona who has only made the top of the women’s side in recent years, will face it.
Barcelona’s winning streak has not left anyone cold, and in the home league, for example, it took the championship by a landslide, winning all thirty matches with an unimaginable goal difference of 159-11.
In the Champions League, the only loss came to Wolfsburg with 0–2 away, but the outcome didn’t matter in the end – Barcelona had taken the first round 5-1 in front of a record audience of more than 91,000 spectators.
So can anything stop Barcelona on its way to a second consecutive Champions League win?
No, at least if you ask an Sports expert Pauliina from Miettinen.
– Lyon dominated the stages for a long time, but Spain and Barcelona have now passed. Barcelona is what everyone is watching and is a role model for everyone right now. Lyon’s game hasn’t been terribly convincing, I don’t think they will be able to resist at the moment, Miettinen says.
Lyon dominated women’s soccer throughout the 2010s. It won the French championship as many as 14 times in a row until PSG ruined the winning streak at the end of the 2020 season. The team celebrated the Champions League victory seven times: 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
Last season, the team’s journey in the Champions League ended in the semi-finals as the PSG advanced to the away goal. This season, the rule no longer existed and was not needed, as Lyon knocked out the PSG 5-3 in the semi-finals.
The victory in the Champions League was celebrated by Barcelona, which defeated Chelsea, who were catastrophically excluded from the playoffs this season.
Lyon has played Sonia Bompastorin under the end of last season since the team showed the door Jean-Luc Vasseurille at the end of April. However, according to Miettinen, the former player of the French national team and Lyon has not got the best out of it.
– There’s no core idea. They have played really ficklely. The unrest that has not been seen before is reflected in the gameplay. The entity is not in the same control as Barcelona. The gaming is a bit confusing, Miettinen describes.
To the general public, the team’s best-known player is the Norwegian star who hit the first Ballon d’Or in history Ada Hegerberg, who returned to the playing field in October last year after a long injury. Since then, the net has swung 12 times, but yet the all-time goal scorer in the Champions League is not in the former attack.
– Of course, he is still the best player in the world, but he has not yet stood out. Sure, it’s a dangerous and good player and I hope he could do his best in the final.
Lyon has some of the best players in the world, but Barcelona doesn’t fade to stardom. Captain Alexia Putellas kicked a handsome straight last year when he celebrated not only Ballon d’Or but also the election of the best player of the year for Fifa and Uefa, being the first player to win all three awards in the same year.
Many of the players starring Barcelona will also be marching on the field in July against the Helmars, including Jennifer Hermoso, Claudia Pina, Irene Paredes and goalkeeper Sandra Panos.
Miettinen in particular suggests following two of them.
– The team is full of good players, but Putellas and Hermoso are two to watch: how they decide the game and how the performance will certainly be seen in the long-awaited Champions League final.
“They know they’re the best team in the world”
In Barcelona, too, success began when he served as vice-president of the club from 2014 to 2019 Jordi Mestre proposed turning the women’s team into a professional. The president of the club at the time Josep Maria Bartomeu support the idea.
However, the championships did not rain immediately. Mestre called time “the years of change” and their fruit is being reaped now.
As many as 20 of the 25 players who played in the Champions League final last May were Spaniards. Nine players have gone through the club’s Academy.
– We wanted the roots of the team to consist of players who have undergone a change from amateur to professionalism and who know how difficult it has been. Who really carries the colors of the club with passion. We didn’t just get some really good players around the world, Maria Teixidor, the director in charge of the club’s women’s activities in 2018-2020 told Goal.
According to Pauliina Miettinen, Barcelona’s self-confidence is so high that even the stupid readings can be seen on the board in Saturday’s final.
– I don’t see Lyon being able to block Barcelona, they have such a pipe on. They exude self-confidence and know they are the best team in the world right now. Barcelona play breaks Lyon’s defense at some point, even though there is (French national team stopper) Wendie Renardia and else. It may be that we will see a final victory even in numbers, Miettinen concludes.
Although no Finns can be found on either team, Finnish colors can still be seen on the field. The match will be judged by a Finnish referee Lina Lehtovaara.