Barcelona, Spain — barcelona Former coach Jonathan Giraldez and set up a fascinating matchup with ol lyonnes Towards Oslo after bad weather for a long time Bayern Munich Hurricanes to win their semi-final second leg at Camp Nou on Sunday 4-2And with a 5–3 aggregate draw, they sealed their sixth consecutive Champions League Last.
After a 1-1 draw in Munich last week, three-time winners Barca were on track to book a place in the final on May 23 when alexia putellas‘The second goal of the afternoon gave them a 4–1 lead on the day over Bayern.
Everything almost went right for Pere Romeu’s team in the first hour. Caroline Graham Hansen And Salma Parluelo seemed invincible on the wings, eva pajor Along with his usual goal threat, Putellas was coming forward at all the right moments and Aitana Bonamati came off the bench to make his first appearance since suffering a broken leg in November. Giraldez, who was in charge of Barca when they defeated Lyon in the 2024 final, will be wondering how to beat his former team, which is now unbeaten in 31 games in all competitions.
However, the final 30 minutes showed Barça, who had lost last year’s final armoryMay be unsafe. Bayern themselves are unbeaten in 29 matches ahead of Sunday’s game after losing 7-1 to Barca in October, which has really put the home team under pressure. In fact, coach Jose Barcla might question why he did not send his team into attack sooner.
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Putella’s second goal finally sparked Bayern into life. Pernille Harder pulled one back in the 71st minute, and what followed was an onslaught from the German champions: they hit the bar twice, had a goal disallowed due to a foul in the buildup and saw countless shots either blocked by defenders or saved by the Barcelona goalkeeper. cut coal. They went out swinging.
Bayern’s, “Right now, it’s very painful.” Giulia Gwynn Said. “I know we can be proud, but that feeling will come with time. We had chances, hit the woodwork twice – for me, I haven’t been able to explain why the goal was conceded. Very frustrating because we felt like we were still in it.”
However, Barça were the better team throughout the encounter – and especially on Sunday. They had 23 shots against Bayern’s 12 and an xG of 3.25 against their opponent’s 0.99. The score was only 2-1 at halftime, but the lead could have easily been four or five.
Barcelona can now resume their rivalry with eight-time winners Lyon, the second leading force in women’s football in Europe in the last decade, although with an interesting twist: this time, they face Giraldez.
Current Barça coach Romeu was part of Giraldez’s coaching staff when he was in charge of the Catalans from 2021 to 2024. During that period, Barça won consecutive Champions League titles in 2023 and 2024. They have yet to reach the top flight in Europe since Giraldez’s departure. washington spirit.
There was much surprise at Barça to see Spirit leave for Lyon after just one year in the United States and return to Europe so soon. It will add spice to a fixture that already had plenty of it.
This will be the fourth final between the two teams. The French side were victorious in 2019 and 2022, asserting their dominance over Barça in the process, but Barça’s victory in Bilbao in 2024 appeared to signal a changing of the guard. Before then, Barça had looked like challengers to the throne; Now, both teams feel like they are No. 1. The final in Oslo on May 23 will help determine who is the ruling force in the women’s game at the moment.
Barça certainly staked their claim in the opening minutes against Bayern. freed from the shackles of suspension francisca kateSent off in the first leg, Graham Hansen was sensational in the opening exchanges here, creating chance after chance. It was no surprise to see his brilliant cross head home the opener for Parluelo in the 13th minute.
Bayern briefly silenced the crowd of 60,000 at Camp Nou by equalizing four minutes later, as poor defending from Barça allowed Harder to set up Linda Dallman. But Bayern’s joy was short-lived.
Captain Putellas had already come close when a loose ball fell to him in the box. he methodically passed the ball ana mahmutovicThe lovers placed their traditional bow in the corner to celebrate in front of the public. It was his eighth consecutive home game with a goal contribution in the competition.
Barça could have scored more goals before the break – Esme Brugues Was particularly wasteful – but he soon took the game away from Bayern in the second half.
Parluelo was a bit of a surprise selection at forward claudia pinaBut he gave arguably his best performance of the season, justifying Romeu’s decision. He made it 3-1 in the 54th minute with an excellent cross from the left, assisted by Pajor.
Four minutes later, Putellas extended the lead with a brilliantly clever finish. He leads the Champions League with 14 goal contributions this season – eight goals and six assists. Notably, she now has 233 Barça goals, moving her ahead of César Rodríguez as the club’s second-leading scorer of all-time in both the men’s and women’s teams, according to ESPN Global Soccer Research. Only Lionel Messi (672) has more.
As important as he is to Barcelona, his contract situation is worrying. His terms expire this summer and there is still no sign of a renewal agreement. Her reaction to being substituted late in the game showed that she was not 100% sure whether she would get the chance to wear a Barça shirt again at the Camp Nou.
Bonamati, meanwhile, back in a Barca shirt for the first time since November, came off the bench as Bayern threw caution to the wind. He may not have enjoyed some of the chances created by the German champions, but he will be glad to be back on the field with the Champions League copa de la reina The final is coming and Barça’s aim is quadruple.
“Getting to six finals in a row is really crazy,” Bonamati told Disney+. “We are normalizing something that is not normal at all. It says everything about the ambition of this team to keep the level so high.
“Now to Lyon, who for me are always the team to beat and the team we looked up to when we were nothing and wanted to reach their level, which we achieved.”
And what about Giraldez, who played a role in helping Barça reach that level and now stands in the way of a fourth European crown?
“I’m grateful to Jonathan for everything he did for me as a player, but now we’re rivals,” Bonamati said. “We’re just thinking about winning that trophy.”
