Barça Femení 1-3 Lyon (UWCL Final): Recap
A painful defeat against the most dominant women’s team ever
Barcelona Femení’s dreams of a repeat European Treble have come to an end thanks to a heartbreaking 3-1 loss to Lyon at the Allianz Stadium in the 2022 Women’s Champions League Final. Barça played their worst 30 minutes of the season and saw themselves down 3-0 to a ruthless Lyon side in the first half, and despite their best efforts the Blaugrana could not produce a comeback and failed to defend their European crown by losing to Lyon in the Final for the second time in the last four years.
FIRST HALF
The first 35 minutes were an absolute disaster for Femení, who were simply unrecognizable and played their worst football of the season. They also found themselves down three goals, thanks to a ruthless Lyon side that defended well and destroyed Barça on the counter.
The first goal came early thanks to an incredible long-distance strike by Henry, and 15 minutes later it was the legendary Ada Hegerberg who showed amazing striker instincts to move away from the Barça defenders in the box and head home the second; the third came on a huge defensive breakdown by Femení who left Macario all alone at the far post to score an easy tap-in.
It felt as though all hope was lost, but Barça gave themselves some hope thanks to the captain: Alexia Putellas fired home a cross from Caroline Graham Hansen, and the Blaugrana made their job just a tad easier before the break.
At halftime, a terrible performance saw Barça down two goals with a mountain to climb in the second half.
SECOND HALF
The second half followed a simple script: Barça sent everyone forward looking for two goals that would send the game to extra-time, while Lyon tried their best to defend their two-goal lead and waste as much time as they possibly could to see the game out.
Barça didn’t start the half well but slowly amped up the pressure and started to create real chances. Patri Guijarro almost scored one of the greatest goals of all-time with an effort from the midfield line that hit the crossbar, Asisat Oshoala missed an open header and Graham Hansen almost scored a beautiful volley that went agonizingly wide. Barça had real chances but didn’t score, and we arrived at the final five minutes with the same score.
Even with seven minutes of added time in the second half, Barça still couldn’t find a way past a very solid Lyon defense, and the final whistle came to give the French powerhouse their eighth Champions League crown. Barça have had an incredible season and this is obviously a huge disappointment, but it’s very clear that Femení won’t go anywhere anytime soon and will continue to compete for more European glory.
Proud of you, ladies.
Barcelona: Paños; Marta (Crnogorcevic 59’), Paredes, Mapi León, Rolfö (Pina 75’); Aitana, Patri, Alexia; Graham, Hermoso (Oshoala 46’), Mariona (Martens 59’)
Goal: Alexia (41’)
Lyon: Endler; Carpenter (Buchanan 14’), Mbock (Cayman 81’), Renard, Bacha; Horan, Henry; Cascarino (Morroni 81’), Macario, Malard (Le Sommer 73’); Hegerberg
Goals: Henry (6’), Hegerbeg (23’), Macario (33’)
Source: barcablaugranes.com
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