OSLO, Norway — Ewa Pajor and Salma Paralluelo both scored twice as Barcelona thumped OL Lyonnes 4-0 at the Ullevaal Stadion in the UEFA Women’s Champions League final to win the competition for a fourth time.
Pajor missed two big chances in the first half but redeemed herself after the break with two goals in 14 minutes as Barça made amends for last year’s final defeat to Arsenal.
Paralluelo then ended the game off with two late strikes, the first a sensational goal from distance and the second well-taken after being fed by Pajor on the counterattack.
Eight-time winners Lyonnes had shaded the first half, but saw a Lindsey Heaps effort ruled out for offside before Cata Coll produced a brilliant save from a Selma Bacha free kick.
Coll made further stops from Vicki Bècho and Tabitha Chawinga in the second half, but Lyonnes could not find a way past the Barça goalkeeper as the game slipped away from them. — Sam Marsden
– UEFA Women’s Champions League final recap
– Alexia Putellas biography, titles, records and career accolades
– Will the Champions League final be Alexia Putellas’ last game for Barça?
Pajor brace ends her own UWCL drought
It is not worth thinking about how Pajor would have been feeling on the flight back to Barcelona if she had not won this final. She came into the game having lost all five previous final appearances across spells with Wolfsburg and Barça and would have been fearing the worst after missing two decent first-half chances.
However, the Poland striker kept going and, when the next chance came her way, she breezed past former teammate Ingrid Syrstad Engen and finished low into the bottom corner. You could see the relief on her face as she punched the air and celebrated in front of the travelling Barça supporters.
In opening the scoring, she became the first player to score in both legs of the quarterfinals, both legs of the semifinals and in the final in a single season since the reformatting of the competition to a one-leg final in 2009-10, taking her tally to a career-high 10 goals in this season’s competition.
She did not stop there, either. Goal number 11 followed shortly after, a close-range finish after a flowing Barça move, and this final was all but over. Paralluelo, picked to start ahead of Clàudia Pina on the left wing, made sure of that with a late brace.
The first goal was stunning, struck fiercely from outside the box and arrowing into the top corner. After a difficult season, it was the perfect way for the Spain forward to sign off, and it breeds hope that she can start to re-find the form that placed her on the Ballon d’Or podium in 2023.
But back to Pajor. As the full-time whistle sounded, she dropped to her knees as her teammates ran to her. She finally has her hands on the Champions League trophy — few would deny her this moment. — Marsden
Lyonnes fail to capitalize on first half domination
It was not conclusive in the first half, but Lyonnes were the better team. Barcelona hadn’t settled and their engine room in the middle was frantic trying to outplay player marking from Lyonnes’ midfield, forcing Barcelona’s into their lowest first-half possession in a Champions League game since April 2017 against Paris Saint-Germain and reducing them to haphazard, rushed chances. But like so much of this campaign, Lyonnes failed to do anything with it.
They had several chances, including a key moment from Norway native Ada Hegerberg and a looping shot/cross from Jule Brand, but they lacked control and precision in the final third. They did have the ball in the back of the net via Heaps, but the goal was ruled out for offside. It should have been the catalyst for Lyonnes — heavily in their stride compared to a cagey Barcelona — but it failed to spark them into gear.
This is not a new story for Lyonnes this season. Against Arsenal in the semifinal, the eight-time winners failed to capitalize on their first-half lead, ultimately losing the first leg and failed to punish the holders in the second leg, almost allowing the Gunners back into the game.
It was a repeat of the issues against Wolfsburg in the quarterfinals too, proving that this is a pattern that needs to be addressed. Upon reflection, Lyonnes will regret not burying the ball when all the momentum was in their favor, and ultimately, this is where they lost the game. — Emily Keogh
The student becomes the master
As a former assistant of Jonatan Giráldez, Pere Romeu had a first-class seat to witness how to create a Champions League winning team, ultimately using this against his former mentor to capitulate Lyonnes 4-0.
After losing the final last season to Arsenal, many criticized the 32-year-old for failing to take the reins from Giráldez. Though he was a lot of the brains behind the tactics then — with a key read on the game and impressive tactical ability — he was in the shadows of Giráldez’s success.
But he has now firmly stepped out and ahead of his former head coach, claiming a second club quadruple in only his second season as a head coach.
Having watched from the wings and aided in the creation of Giráldez’s management style, joining the club in 2024 as an assistant, Romeu had first-hand knowledge of his strengths but also had a perfect gauge of his weaknesses.
Romeu used this to his advantage. Both teams were eager to play possession-heavy games but, with similar approaches, only one was going to be able to play the way they wanted to. Barcelona had failed in the first half to adapt to Lyonnes’s aggressive approach, wanting to stick to the identity that has always been effective. However, their flexibility saw a shift in the second half, ultimately sealing victory.
Having brought the style of play and identity to Barcelona during his tenure, the belief was now that, if he was in the opposing dugout, Giráldez would know how to unlock his former team and ensure a path to victory.
But in Oslo, the student became the master, defeating his former boss to assert his dominance over the women’s football world and return Barcelona to the top of the podium. — Keogh
Norwegian natives struggle at home final
Despite the occasion of a home Champions League final, the three Norwegian natives — Lyonnes’ Hegerberg and Engen and Barcelona’s Caroline Graham Hansen — failed to make much of the occasion.
Oslo, though boasting a lesser crowd than recent seasons due to the smaller stadium, had pulled off an impressive showing, with locals flocking to the fan zone and stadium with plenty of vocal support for their three national team players, and banners of the trio around the city.
But perhaps the emotions of the home crowd got to them and clouded their decision-making. Hegerberg had two key chances to push Lyonnes closer to the title but hesitated too long with her first and sent her second wide. Engen, though less obvious as a defender, fell apart at the end of the game, allowing Paraluello to score a brace in the closing stages of the game.
Graham Hansen was finding it just as hard, with Selma Bacha having her number all game, nullifying the right flank and rendering the 31-year-old ineffective. She was subbed off in the 62nd minute, visibly disappointed in not being able to impact the game, but quickly shifted to elation after Barcelona’s fourth goal hit the back of the net.
Where Barcelona had reinforcements to bring off the bench like Clàudia Pina and Aitana Bonmatí to change the complexion of the game, Lyonnes were desperately missing Kadidiatou Diani, who would’ve taken some of the pressure off Hegerberg, the competition’s all-time top scorer, which could have changed the game entirely. — Keogh
Redemption for Barça after final loss last year
Barça midfielder Alexia Putellas spoke about how last year’s shock defeat to Arsenal had been channeled into positive energy for the team to “improve” and “mature” this season. It’s perhaps easy to say after such a convincing victory, but they certainly looked like a more mature team as they took Lyonnes apart in the second half.
They had ridden their luck at times in the opening period, but were able to ride out those tough moments and stepped up after the break. If there were any lingering doubts about who is now the dominant force in European football, Barça have blown them away.
Appearing in their sixth successive final, and their seventh in eight years, they have won the competition for a fourth time. Their last two final wins — this one and in 2024 — have both come against Lyonnes, the team they aspired to usurp after losing their first final to them in 2019.
With eight Champions League titles of their own, Lyonnes’ pedigree remains undoubted, but they are now chasing Barça. — Marsden
