European football’s past and present dynasties will meet in Saturday’s Women’s Champions League final.
Barcelona’s clash with Lyon in Oslo will be the modern powerhouse’s fourth European title bid in eight seasons and the first since Lyon boss Michele Kang changed their name.
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They were joint first in the 18-team standings in December in the new Champions League format.
Both teams are also unbeaten in domestic competition this season and are in the hunt for a quadruple title.
“These are probably the two greatest teams of all time,” said Nadine Kessler, UEFA’s director of women’s football. She herself won three Champions League titles before starting five consecutive titles with Lyon in 2015.
It was Barcelona’s sixth successive final and seventh in eight years, in an era shaped by their great attacking midfielders Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putras.
Lyon still return with talismanic players Wendie Renard and Ada Hegerberg, captain and hat-trick scorer respectively in Barcelona’s 4-1 defeat in the 2019 final.
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There’s an extra layer of intrigue in the dugout between teams that know each other well.
Lyon coach Jonatan Giladers won back-to-back Champions League titles with Barcelona when current Barcelona coach Pere Romeu was one of his assistants.
Overcoming squad reduction issues
Barcelona return to the finals a year after being denied an expected third consecutive title by their rivals. Arsenal won 1-0.
The season started in some disarray, with redundancies forced as part of wider financial issues to help the club meet restrictions set by the men’s La Liga division.
On the field, he once again dominated. There are two rounds left to defend the Spanish League. So far, the record is 28 wins, 27 losses and 1 loss, with a goal difference of +118. Real Sociedad won 1-0 in November, the only game Barcelona lost all season.
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The Spanish Cup and Super Cup trophies were also lifted, and Romeu’s side topped the league table and then eliminated Real Madrid and Bayern Munich to reach the Champions League final.
Barcelona, who are looking to win their fourth European title after winning 2021, 23 and 24, beat Lyon 2-0.
Grow up with Boss Kang
It’s been a good first season with Coach Girardes and Lyon for boss Michel Kang.
Lyon topped the regular season league standings with an unbeaten record and won two domestic cups. All that remains is the French Ligue 1 play-off final in Oslo on Saturday, followed by a home match against PSG next Friday.
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The only defeats all season were away games against Wolfsburg and Arsenal in the Champions League knockout rounds, with the defending champions losing 3-1 in the second leg in Lyon.
Lifting both trophies in the coming week would give Renard a record ninth European title and an impressive 19th French league title.
At 35, the legendary centre-back is also older than both coaches on Saturday. Lyon head coach Giladers is 34 years old and Romeu is 32 years old.
Girardes arrived in Lyon last offseason after she was first poached from Barcelona by Kang to lead the Washington Spirit, which she also owns.
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The new league stage format has a broadcast deal with Disney+, injecting €26 million ($30.15 million) into the 74-club Champions League prize fund. This season’s men’s competition will share approximately 2.44 billion euros ($2.83 billion) among 36 clubs.
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Barcelona has received €1.455 million ($1.69 million) from UEFA so far, while Lyon, second in the league standings, is €10,000 ($11,600) less.
Saturday’s winner will receive €500,000 ($580,000) and the losing finalist €300,000 ($348,000).
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