Barcelona and Lyon will battle it out in the Women’s Champions League final. Two of the greatest players of all time, Barcelona midfielder Alexia Putellas and Lyon forward Ada Hegerberg, are set to play a key part.
A Chance to Make History
Hegerberg and Putellas boast a combined 174 Women’s Champions League appearances and nine titles. Hegerberg won the inaugural Ballon d’Or Feminin, while Putellas has since won it twice. Both players have the chance to make history. Only one of them can become the first player to score in three different finals against the same opponent.
Hegerberg scored against Barcelona in 2019 and 2022. Putellas scored against Lyon in 2022 and 2024.
Lyon icon Ada Hegerberg will be desperate to get her hands on the Champions League trophy for a seventh time.
- Only Conny Pohlers (8) has scored more Women’s Champions League final goals than Hegerberg (6).
- The 2018 Ballon d’Or winner could become the first player to score in the final of the competition in five different seasons.
- She scored in 2016 (v Wolfsburg), 2018 (v Wolfsburg), 2019 (hat-trick v Barcelona) and 2022 (v Barcelona).
Former Barcelona Boss Returns
Some boos were heard inside the stadium from Barcelona fans for the announcement of Lyon Coach Jonatan Giraldez. He won two Champions League titles with Barcelona before leaving for Washington Spirit. He faces his former assistant Pere Romeu today.
Lyon manager Jonatan Jiraldez knows Barcelona better than most. He guided them to Champions League glory in 2023 and 2024, the latter achieved by beating his current side Lyon 2-0.
Barcelona are now coached by Jiraldez’s former assistant in Catalonia, Pere Romeu, who is looking to win his first European crown as a manager.
“You’ve got to leave emotions out of it and be as focused as possible, because these details make the difference in terms of whether you’re at 100% or not, what you’re capable of and which way the scales tip,” Giraldez told Uefa.
Road to the Final
Like Barcelona, Lyon won five and drew one of their six league phase matches.
Unlike their opponents today, the French side had to overcome first leg defeats in both the quarter-finals and semi-finals.
In the last eight, Lyon roared back from a 1-0 defeat away from home against Wolfsburg with a 4-0 home win.
Two defensive errors at Emirates Stadium saw them trail Arsenal 2-1 at the halfway stage of their semi-final clash, but a 3-1 win in France a week later secured a trip to Oslo.
After pipping Lyon to top spot in the league phase on goal difference, Barcelona thrashed rivals Real Madrid 12-2 on aggregate to progress to the semi-finals.
After a 1-1 draw with Bayern Munich in the first leg in Germany, Pere Romeu’s side overpowered their opponents 4-2 at Camp Nou to book their place in a sixth consecutive final, a new Women’s Champions League record.
Chelsea defender Ellie Carpenter, who was part of the Lyon side that won the Women’s Champions League in 2019-20 and 2021-22, is rooting for her former club Lyon in the Champions League final.