Suzanne Wrack’s report from Turin has landed, so it’s time to wrap this blog up. Thanks for your company and emails, and congratulations to all connected with Olympique Lyonnais Feminin. Goodnight!
The Lyon players are going up to collect their medals. It’s a familiar feeling but one that will never, ever get old. Last up are the two giants of this team: Ada Hegerberg and Wendie Renard. The trophy is handed to Renard, who walks slowly over to her teammates, a mischievous smile on her face, and then lifts the Champions League trophy to the heavens. Lyon are champions of Europe again!
There were a number of great performances in the Lyon team: Wendie Renard, Selma Bacha, Amandine Henry, Melvine Malard. But the player of the match was Ada Hegerberg, whose skill, intelligence and bronca were too much for the Barcelona defence. She was awesome.
Lyon have won the Champions League for the eighth time, including six in the last seven seasons, and this is one of the sweetest victories of all. Great teams get a unique high from silencing doubters and recovering from trophyless seasons. Lyon have done so in style: they beat PSG, who eliminated them last season, in the semi-finals and now they have done a number on the champions Barcelona. Their win was richly deserved.
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LYON ARE CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE AGAIN!
Full time: Barcelona 1-3 Lyon We should have known. Lyon came into this game as big underdogs against an apparently unstoppable Barcelona side, and then they made fools of us all. Their experience – maybe even their entitlement – proved decisive during a wild first half. Ada Hegerberg was majestic and Amandine Henry scored the goal of her life.
Barcelona never gave up but nor were they ever at their best. They looked like they didn’t understand the concept of being behind in a football match. Their reign as European champions is over, at least for now. But there will be surely more chapters in the burgeoning Lyon/Barcelona rivalry.
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90+7 min: Hegerberg hits the post! That would have been some finish. Le Sommer moved down the right and drove a deliberately deep cross to Hegerberg, who slammed a technically immaculate volley off the near post.
90+6 min A cross from the left is comfortably claimed by Endler. Barcelona know it’s over.
90+4 min Morroni is booked for a late tackle on Pina. Barcelona have three minutes to score two goals.
90+1 min Graham Hansen’s cross is headed over by the stretching Paredes, six yards out. Not an easy chance, but still a good one.
90 min There will be seven minutes of added time.
89 min Oshoala shoots wide from the left side of the box. Barcelona can have no complaints about the result - Lyon have been the better team.
87 min The corner is headed wide under pressure by Patri.
87 min Putellas’s shot deflects behind for a corner. This is, by far, Barcelona’s best spell of the second half. But it’s probably going to be too late.
86 min Oshoala almost runs onto Putellas’s through ball but is eventually crowded out. At first glance I thought she was held back by Renard, though nobody appealed for a penalty.
85 min Paredes is booked for fouling Hegerberg, then gives the referee a mouthful. And why not.
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85 min “I don’t know if the Barcelona coach is an Amazon customer,” says Peter Oh, “but it might be time for him to give the voice command: ‘Alexia, score two more goals in the next five minutes’.”
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84 min Pina and Bonmati have shots blocked in the space of a few seconds.
83 min: Just wide from Crnogorcevic! Oshoala finds space on the left and swings a cross to the far post, where Crnogorcevic comes on the blind side of Morroni and volleys fractionally wide!
82 min “Martens hasn’t made the impact on the game I was hoping,” says Travis Giblin, “but she was entirely instrumental in their win last time, despite not scoring a goal. Without her none of the goals would have happened. There’s still time for a nailbiter!”
81 min: Lyon substitution A double change in fact. Perle Morroni and Janice Cayman replace Delphine Cascarino and Griedge Mbock Bathy.
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79 min Mbock Bathy makes the most of an overzealous shoulder charge from Martens, then gets some treatment for cramp. The Barcelona players aren’t impressed. Nor is their coach Jonatan Giraldez, who is booked for complaining.
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78 min A Barcelona goal now would make things phenomenally interesting. But in truth they are struggling, with Lyon defending as comfortably as at any stage in the match.
77 min: Chance for Renard! That could have sealed it for Lyon. Bacha’s driven free-kick from the right was half-volleyed wide by the unmarked Renard at the far post.
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76 min A change for Barcelona: Claudia Pina for Fridolina Rolfo. I think that means a switch to three at the back.
75 min Oshoala misses a great headed chance from Rolfo’s cross, though she was offside anyway.
74 min “I have a profitable idea and it’s a risk free deal for you,” writes Nikonova Natalia Grigorevna. “Contact me if you are willing to know more.”
I’m afraid I couldn’t possibly do business with somebody who doesn’t hyphenate risk-free when it’s used as an adjective.
Water break And with that, it’s time for the second drinks break of the night.
72 min: Lyon substitution Eugenie Le Sommer comes on for the superb Melvine Malard.
70 min Barcelona are running out of time. I thought the second half would be one-way traffic but that hasn’t been the case at all. In fact, though Patri hit the bar from near the halfway line, I don’t think Endler has had a save to make.
67 min Barcelona are starting to get frustrated, both by their inability to score a second and Lyon’s game-management. Macario goes down after wearing a stray arm from Crnogorcevic, and that eats up another 90 seconds.
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64 min Macario is booked for kicking the ball away.
64 min Rolfo drives a hopeful cross-shot into the side netting. Meanwhile, here’s that outrageous effort from Patri a few minutes ago.
WHAT A GOAL THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN FOR @FCBfemeni 🤯
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) May 21, 2022
Incredible vision from Patricia Guijarro! 👏
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62 min Oshoala breaks into space down the lef.. it’s offside, forget it.
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60 min There’s a break in play while Endler receives treatment. She injured herself while trying to keep out that shot from Patri, presumably when she landed. She’s okay to continue for now.
59 min: Double substitution for Barcelona Lieke Martens and Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic replace Marta Torrejon and Mariona Caldentey.
58 min: Patri hits the bar from 50 yards! My days, what an effort. A ball up to Macario on the halfway line was won by Leon and ran loose in the centre circle. Patri spotted Endler off her line and drove a first-time shot that swirled over the keeper and smacked off the crossbar.
57 min Malard finds Horan on the left wing. She moves into the area, beats Torrejon with contemptuous ease and slides a low cross that is cleared by Rolfo.
55 min This is a good spell for Lyon, who have kept the ball a bit better since half-time.
52 min: Chance for Cascarino! Lyon continue to look so dangerous in transition. Horan plays a good angled pass to Cascarino, who is forced slightly wide by a sloppy first touch but still manages to leather a rising drive just over the bar. That was a really good effort from a tightish angle.
50 min After a good run from Macario, Malard shoots straight at Panos from the edge of the D.
49 min Henry fouls Bonmati 25 yards from goal, a fair way to the right of centre. Putellas tries a training-ground free-kick and makes a mess of it.
46 min Peep peep!
Barcelona are making a half-time change: Asisat Oshoala is on for Jenni Hermoso.
“You must have performed some sort of ritual before the match, presumably like you do for cracking games, as this certainly is one,” says Yash Gupta.
Trust me, I’ve also kissed plenty of frogs in my 18 years (gulp) of liveblogging.
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If that first half doesn’t make you want to read an entertaining, free, informative, free weekly women’s football newsletter, then nothing will.
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Half time: Barcelona 1-3 Lyon
Pick the bones out of that. What do you mean that’s my job? Well, Lyon are 3-1 ahead but their lead feels precarious, such has been the madness of this game. Amandine Henry’s astonishing goal put Lyon ahead before Ada Hegerberg and Catarina Macario gave them a barely believable 3-0 lead.
Barcelona, who have been a nervous wreck in defence, changed the mood when Alexia Putellas volleyed past Christiane Endler.
Don’t ask me what happens next; I’m still trying to make sense of what just happened.
45+2 min Hegerberg leaves one on Patri and is rightly booked.
45+1 min Cascarino mistimes a volley wide from Macario’s floated cross. It wasn’t an easy chance - the angle was pretty tight - but she’ll be frustrated that she didn’t connect properly.
45 min Four minutes of added time.
44 min This first half has flown by.
43 min “Firstly I’d like to echo the thoughts of Redmond Grimes: it’s great to see the investment in the WSL - and these two are still miles better,” says Adam Kline-Schoder. “I feel like Barcelona have been a bit one-dimensional in their play so far; the patterns aren’t quite there and the ball isn’t being moved quite quickly enough to evade the traps Lyon are cleverly setting for them. What a goal by Henry, what a player Hegerberg is, and what a game this has been. Enjoy!”
The captain Alexia Putellas has dragged Barcelona back into the game. The goal was made by Graham Hansen, who swung over a fairly standard, shin-high cross from the right. Mbock Bathy slipped, which allowed Putellas to run onto the ball and volley emphatically past Endler. That’s a really good finish.
GOAL! Barcelona 1-3 Lyon (Putellas 41)
Hello!
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40 min For whatever it’s worth, I still don’t think this game is over. I will, of course, delete this entry and pretend it never happened if Lyon make it 4-0.
39 min Graham Hansen’s cross from the right is beaten away nervously by Endler, who might have been unsighted. Barcelona still look pretty calm going forward; it’s in defence that blind panic has set in.
38 min Hegerberg is giving a masterclass in centre-forward play. As well as scoring one and making two, her link play has been exemplary.
36 min After another rapid break, Hegerberg whips a shot that is beaten away by the flying Panos! Lyon are destroying Barcelona in transition.
Catarina Macario has made it 3-0 to Lyon after more outstanding play from Hegerberg. A desperate, weary clearance from Paredes, in her own six-yard box, was blocked by Malard. She gave the ball to Hegerberg, who played a quick-witted first-time pass across goal towards the unmarked Macario.
Macario miscontrolled the ball, as if in shock that she should find herself four yards out with an open goal, but the ball rolled off the post and into the net.
The instant pass from Hegerberg, which bisected five Barcelona players, was marvellous.
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GOAL! Barcelona 0-3 Lyon (Macario 33)
Barcelona are falling apart!
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32 min Another chance for Hegerberg! A rubbish ball from Leon was intecepted, and suddenly Hegerberg was one v one with Paredes, the last defender. This time Paredes did well to hold Hegerberg up, and eventually she shot over the bar from the edge of the D.
Water break It’s really warm in Turin, almost 30 degrees, and the players are having a drink.
28 min There’s the second one!
The @UWCL's all-time top scorer, Ada Hegerberg, doubles @OLFeminin's lead! 🎯
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) May 21, 2022
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27 min This is pulsating stuff. It’s not going to end 2-0, I’ll tell you that for nothing.
25 min Hegerberg almost makes it three! Paredes played a dreadful, short backpass that was collected by Hegerberg. She tried to go round the outrushing Panos, who lunged feet first to make a vital tackle. Barcelona are a bag of nerves in defence.
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It was another high-class goal from Lyon. The indefatigable Bacha played a slick one-two with Malard on the left and arced a beautiful cross towards the far post. The keeper Panos didn’t know whether to stick or twist, and Hegerberg pulled away from Leon to head into the net with utter certainty. She’s done it to Barcelona again!
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GOAL! Barcelona 0-2 Lyon (Hegerberg 23)
There might be panic now: Lyon have gone 2-0 up!
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22 min Barcelona can’t have gone behind too often in the last couple of seasons. So far there have been no signs of panic or frustration, though that might change if it’s still 1-0 after an hour.
21 min “Couple early thoughts,” says Travis Giblin. “First, WHAT A STRIKE by Henry. As a card-carrying member of the Irish nation I struggle to cheer for any French player named Henry, but that was incredible. Also, in the lead up to the goal, what an effort by Hegerberg. She was clearly missed by Lyon last season.”
Yes, I was so distracted by Henry’s strike that I forgot to praise Hegerberg for holding the ball up in the first place. She did superbly.
20 min Hegerberg wafts a bouncing ball wide of goal from about 22 yards. Lyon aren’t having much of the ball but look dangerous when they do get it.
17 min “The WSL has come on leaps and bounds but these two teams are two steps ahead,” says Redmond Grimes. “It could be a while before we see the likes of Chelsea, Man City or Arsenal win this.”
Indeed. You’d think three years minimum, even with the money in the WSL.
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15 min: Great defending from Bacha! Rolfo runs at the substitute Buchanan and drives a low cross towards Hermoso, whose attempted shot is blocked brilliantly by Bacha in the six-yard box. Barcelona have responded admirably to the shock of going behind.
14 min: Lyon substitution Poor Ellie Carpenter is stretchered off to be replaced by Kadeisha Buchanan.
13 min The Lyon right-back Ellie Carpenter is down and in a lot of pain. I think she twisted her knee, and at one stage she was slapping the ground in distress.
12 min Here’s that heatseeker from Amandine Henry. It seemed to float forever before rippling the far corner of the net.
TAKE. A. BOW. 🔥
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) May 21, 2022
Amandine Henry with one of the goals of the season for @OLFeminin
Watch the @UWCL Final live 👇
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11 min: Good save from Endler! Barcelona are starting to stir. Bonmati finds space on the left of the area and lays thge ball back to Hermoso, who pokes a shot that is pawed away by Endler. My first thought was that Hermoso might have done better, though I’d like to see a replay before upbraiding her in a public forum.
10 min A half chance for Torrejon, who heads a left-wing corner over the bar from around 12 yards.
9 min “Dear sir,” writes the very polite Inka. “The husband and I were wondering why coaches and officials today wore bouquets on their lapels. Google didn’t throw up any answers, nor does it seem to be a holiday. Are Scots just way more fashionable than the rest of the world?”
Well yes, we are, but I’m afraid I don’t have a definite answer to the original question.
8 min Barcelona appealed for a foul on Putellas in the build-up, but it was a fair challenge from Henry. The rest was entirely preposterous.
Pick that out! It all started when Henry won a 50/50 with Putellas on the Lyon left, 35 yards from goal. Then she pushed the ball infield, into space, and launched a booming shot that beat the flying Panos and nestled in the far corner. What a fricking goal!
GOAL! Barcelona 0-1 Lyon (Henry 6)
Amandine Henry gives Lyon the lead with an incredible goal!
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3 min Cascarino beats Rolfo with ease on the right and stands up a cross that is headed off target by the backpedalling Malard. Lyon have made a fast start.
2 min Horan is fouled 35 yards from goal, which allows Lyon to send Renard and Mbock Bathy forward. In fact Bacha goes straight for goal, curling a few yards wide. Panos had it covered.
34 seconds Barcelona were 1-0 up at this stage last year.
1 min Peep peep! Lyon get the match under way, kicking from right to left as we watch.
The players pose for the pre-match photos, and then the captains Alexia Putellas and Wendie Renard go through the formalities. It’s time for the 2022 Champions League final!
A bit of domestic news
“According to the Barça Twitter account, the fans are singing their boring ‘Oh le le, Oh la la’ song,” begins Charles Antaki, “when this was a golden opportunity to actually use the ‘…. by far the greatest team the world has ever seen’ song with some degree of plausibility, at least as compared to it being sung by fans of, for example and with the greatest respect and so on, Watford.”
Thanks Will, hello everyone. Before the players emerge from the tunnel, let’s have a reminder of the teams.
Barcelona (4-3-3) Panos; Torrejon, Paredes, Leon, Rolfo; Bonmati, Patri, Putellas; Graham Hansen, Hermoso, Caldentey.
Substitutes: Font, Meritxell Munoz, Serrano, Pina, Ouahabi, Pereira, Crnogorcevic, Oshoala, Martens, Syrstad Engen.
Lyon (4-3-3) Endler; Carpenter, Renard, Mbock Bathy, Bacha; Horan, Henry, Macario; Cascarino, Hegerberg, Malard.
Substitutes: Bouhaddi, Holmgren, Morroni, Gunnarsdottir, Le Sommer, Egurrola, Van De Donk, Sombath, Laurent, Buchanan, Cayman, Benyahia.
Referee Lina Lehtovaara (Finland).
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It’s been a pleasure, albeit a brief one, but it’s time to hand back over to Rob Smyth. He’s fresh from covering the Scottish Cup final, so go easy on him.
A refresher on how the finalists got here. Barcelona utterly bossed the group stage, winning all six games against Arsenal, Hoffenheim and Danish side HB Køge. They went on to beat Real Madrid 8-3 on aggregate in the quarter-finals, before a slightly tighter semi-final against Wolfsburg in which they won the first leg 5-1 but lost the second leg 2-0.
Lyon, meanwhile, won all but one of their games at the group stage, with a sole defeat inflicted by Bayern Munich. They squeezed past Juventus in the quarters, triumphing 4-3 on aggregate, before overcoming PSG, their domestic rivals, in the semis.
Along with the supporters who have travelled to Turin, the Blaugranes will be cheered on by thousands back home. A large crowd has gathered to watch the match on the Plaça de Catalunya in the centre of Barcelona.
Mentrestant, a Plaça Catalunya... 👏
— FC Barcelona Femení (@FCBfemeni) May 21, 2022
📍 ¡Barcelona está con vosotras!
💙 ❤#MoreThanEmpowerment pic.twitter.com/uGzxM8E7ZC
A reminder of how to watch the big game. It will be broadcast on ITV4, with coverage starting from 5.30pm. That’s in – oh, wow, is that the time? – just under two minutes.
As with the rest of the Women’s Champions League this season, it will also be available to stream live on DAZN’s YouTube channel. Just in case you’re Extremely Online and prefer that to watching on the television.
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The warm-ups have begun, with Lyon taking to the field to put the final touches on their pre-match preparations.
𝑨𝑳𝑳𝑬𝒁 💪🔴🔵#FCBOL #UWCLFinal pic.twitter.com/Q2G2pxdgt3
— OL Féminin (@OLfeminin) May 21, 2022
The atmosphere is building at the Juventus Stadium. Barcelona fans have greeted the team coaches with smoke bombs and a sea of flags, while the stands are gradually filling up with supporters.
𝙊𝙝 𝙡𝙚 𝙡𝙚
— FC Barcelona Femení (@FCBfemeni) May 21, 2022
𝙊𝙝 𝙡𝙖 𝙡𝙖
𝙎𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙚𝙡 𝘽𝙖𝙧𝙘̧𝙖 𝙚́𝙨
𝙀𝙡 𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙧 𝙦𝙪𝙚 𝙝𝙞 𝙝𝙖
💙❤ pic.twitter.com/44a4h2MuBB
Speaking of pre-match interviews, Suzanne Wrack has been in conversation with Lyon’s Catarina Macario. The US international has the unenviable task of unlocking Barcelona’s defence tonight.
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Will Magee here, temporarily filling in for Rob Smyth. If you’re looking for some pre-match reading, why not check out Emma Kemp’s interview with Ellie Carpenter? She’s starting at right-back for Lyon this evening.
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Tot a punt!! 😬 pic.twitter.com/MrTTBZQD9c
— FC Barcelona Femení (@FCBfemeni) May 21, 2022
Lyon team news
... and here’s the Lyon starting XI.
𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗫𝗜 𝗱𝗲 𝗱𝗲́𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗮 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗹𝗲 ⚔🔴🔵#FCBOL #UWCLFinal pic.twitter.com/tRUjilDxt1
— OL Féminin (@OLfeminin) May 21, 2022
Barcelona team news
Here’s how the reigning champions will line up this evening.
1️⃣1️⃣ #FCBFemeni OFICIAL #UWCLFinal
— FC Barcelona Femení (@FCBfemeni) May 21, 2022
👌 @stanleytools
💙❤️ #ForçaBarça pic.twitter.com/VpTptM9k3n
Suzanne Wrack’s match preview
Un coup d’œil à la pelouse du Juventus Stadium 👀🔴🔵#FCBOL #UWCLFinal pic.twitter.com/ZNYupdN1Ig
— OL Féminin (@OLfeminin) May 21, 2022
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Champions League final between Barcelona and Lyon in Turin. The best sport – the really, really, really good stuff – needs no hype or ballyhoo. This game can be summarised in less than 50 characters, never mind 140: the reigning champions v the perennial champions.
Lyon have won this tournament a record seven times including five in a row from 2016-20. But Barcelona succeeded them last year and go into tonight’s final as very strong favourites. Their record in all competitions this season is from the realms of fantasist football: P44 W43 D0 L1 F210 A19.
May I stop you there. Could you kindly go back and look at those numbers again: 44 games, 43 wins, TWO HUNDRED AND TEN GOALS! Their team includes Alexia Putellas, the best player in the world, as well as Jenni Hermoso, Caroline Hansen, Aitana Bonmatí and a load of other stars. When our expert panel voted for the 100 best female footballers in the world at the end of last year, six of the top 10 were Barcelona players.
This time last year they sliced and diced Chelsea in the final in Gothenburg, scoring all four goals in the first 36 minutes, and Lyon’s first job will be to get through the first 10 minutes unscathed.
Part of Barcelona’s journey (drink!) to the top was a 4-1 hammering by Lyon in the 2019 final. They were the victims of an even faster start that night, with all four goals coming in the first half-hour. That included a hat-trick from the great Ada Hegerberg, whose presence tonight could give the Barcelona defence the heebie-jeebies.
A win for Barcelona would complete their journey (drink!) from contenders to undisputed champions. In one fell swoop they can put 2019 to bed, retain the Champions League, beat Lyon for the first time in their history and prove, beyond even unreasonable doubt, that they are the world’s best team.
Lyon would love to make the picture a whole lot fuzzier. If they win, last season might be dismissed as a one-off rather than a changing of the guard. But for now, Lyon are in the unusual position of starting as underdogs. They are in the process of recovering from a miserable 2020-21, in which Paris Saint-Germain ended their long reigns as French and European champions (14 and five years respectively). Hegerberg missed the whole season with an ACL injury, so you could understand if Lyon put an asterisk against their underachievement.
Lyon got some revenge by beating PSG in this year’s Champions League semi-finals, and will regain the French title with a game to spare if they avoid defeat in Paris next weekend. It’s too early to say they are back to their best, but they are at least back where they belong – in a Champions League final.
Kick off 6pm.
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