Will Barcelona achieve the ‘three-peat’ and win the Women’s Champions League again?
Barcelona are attempting to win their third-straight UWCL title when they face Arsenal this Saturday in Lisbon. Can they go on to retain their European crown once again?
This Saturday, Barcelona will walk out for yet another UEFA Women’s Champions League final, playing for the sixth time in this occasion, in which they have been three-time winners of the competition. Two of which have been in the last two seasons, setting them up to achieve something historic this weekend if they were to win.
They stand within the chance of winning a ‘three-peat’, which means winning the same competition for three straight years, something which only Lyon has ever managed to do in its history under the UEFA Women’s Cup and UEFA Women’s Champions League names. Both of the two defeats that Barcelona have suffered in a UWCL final have come against Lyon.
To see how far this team has come in the space of when they first became a professional club ten years ago has been nothing short of remarkable. They have truly managed to take over and dominate, becoming one of the major powerhouses and elite-level clubs in women’s football. It hasn’t come without its challenges to begin with, but as time has gone by they have established themselves as the ‘queens of Europe’ and garnered an amazing support that is sure to make itself heard in Lisbon.
Their whole mindset now is about winning and it’s something they very rarely fail to do. Success is ingrained into the club and its women’s team has managed to reflect this with the constant success both domestically and in Europe. It is what makes them as favourites going into this clash with Arsenal.
Pere Romeu took charge at the start of the season and has continued where Jonatan Giráldez left off. The endless amount of talent they have within their team continues to be what helps them flourish and as we have seen in this season’s competition, their dominance has gone on to continue. Answering any questions as to whether the hunger to keep winning still remains.
Barcelona’s Path To The Final
Things didn’t get off to the best of starts in the group stages for Barcelona when Manchester City found a plan to beat them at the Joie Stadium, but after that game things went back to business as usual as they went on to win games very convincingly and only conceded one goal in the process to finish at the top of Group D.
They got their revenge on Man City and overtook them to get that top spot and they then found themselves against a former final opponent in VfL Wolfsburg. They would make fairly light work of the former German champions as they swept them aside with a 10-2 aggregate win in the quarter-finals.
Then it was another showdown with Chelsea in the semi-finals, which didn’t go as closely as previous semi-final encounters between the pair. Barcelona eased their way to victories in both legs and ended with an 8-2 win on aggregate to progress to the final.
It’s been such an impressive Champions League campaign from Barcelona with them having scored 44 goals in total across the ten games they’ve played. They have also only conceded seven goals across those games as well, with the two conceded against Man City being the most in a single game.
Key Players
It’s a case of take your pick with who could be key for Barcelona when you do look into their plethora of talent at their disposal, but one of those who will always stand out is the two-time Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmatí.
The Spanish midfielder always has the potential to be a difference maker within a game and alongside her expected midfield teammates Alexia Putellas and Patri Guijarro. She put in a good performance over the two semi-final legs against Chelsea, including that goal she scored in the 2nd to effectively kill that tie off.
She is tied with Guijarro in leading this season’s competition with the amount of assists as well with both having five each. Bonmatí is a player who loves to turn up for the big occasion having been the player who opened the scoring in the second half of last season’s final en route to victory.
Someone else to highlight is striker Ewa Pajor who has had an absolute stellar debut season with the Catalan club scoring 25 league goals and then seven in the Champions League. Plus, she has experience of scoring in a previous Champions League final when she gave Wolfsburg the lead after three minutes against her current club before Barcelona did go on and win 3-2 in 2023.
If we’re going to talk about goals, then we can’t ignore how brilliant Clàudia Pina has been in this season’s UWCL, heading into the final as the top scorer with ten goals despite five starts out of the eight appearances she has made in the competition this season. In averaging a goal every 42 minutes in the process, the wide forward could well be in contention for a start. However, she finds herself in a battle with Salma Paralluelo as to who may start on that left side.
Will Barcelona create their own history once again?
It has the potential to be such an interesting match-up when they come up against Arsenal on Saturday, and yes they will be heavy favourites in the eyes of many, but that isn’t to say it will be completely straightforward for Barcelona.
Tactically I think we know how Barcelona are likely to set up. That usual 4-3-3 formation has always suited them and it is very much the Barcelona way of things and being able to dictate things when they are on the ball with possession. It just gives them the control in games and when it does go their way, it becomes pretty hard to deal with unless you have the ability to unsettle them.
If you are Barcelona then you are probably expecting Arsenal to try and be a bit more compact, however they should be wary of Arsenal having that capability of pressing high and trying to force a mistake. But in saying that, this is a Barcelona side that can be as ruthless as it gets and they can absolutely beat anybody when they are at their best.
It’s going to be so interesting to see some of the key battles in this game and one of which could see Aitana Bonmatí up against her ex-teammate and fellow Spanish international Mariona Caldentey. Of course, it would depend on how both operate in this game, but you could see Bonmatí be given a responsibility in having to track Caldentey and the same could possibly happen on the opposite side of things. Both know each other well and have a strong mentality in wanting to win, so it could be fascinating to watch.
The thing that gives Barcelona the edge over Arsenal is just how lethal they are when they do get on the attack. This is a team that doesn’t hesitate to get forward and threaten that opposition goal and they have averaged way more shots than their opponents Arsenal with an average of 23.2 per game compared to the Gunners’ 13.4.
It’s completely understandable for anyone to go all-in on Barcelona winning this final because of how threatening they can be and their head-to-head record over Arsenal goes in their favour as well. The fact of the matter is Barcelona at this point have been there and done it, so you find it really difficult not to back them in a game like this and get over the line. They see that ‘three-peat’ in sight and they won’t allow anyone to stop them getting it. But it will still be important for them to not underestimate their opposition.
