a final between OL and Barça to establish its domination over Europe

If Olympique Lyonnais and FC Barcelona each proclaim themselves as “the best team in the world”, the two clubs will meet in the Champions League final, in a duel that has become a rivalry between the queens of Europe and their competitors.

On the front page of the Catalan newspaper website Mundo Deportivo, Monday April 29, one word is written bigger than the others: revenge. Guaranteed to meet Olympique Lyonnais in the Champions League final following their 2-1 victory against PSG on Sunday April 28, the Barcelona women are now waiting to face their ideal rival on May 25, almost “at home”. them”, in Bilbao. In the cathedral of San Mamés, two regulars of the exercise will face off: Olympique Lyonnais, ten finals on the clock for eight won, against FC Barcelona, ​​reigning European champion with five finals played in the last six editions. .

But if each of the two teams claims to be “the best in the world”, the figures leave little room for the new Catalan giant. Sonia Bompastor’s daughters will fly to the Basque Country having never lost to FC Barcelona, ​​despite four confrontations in the Champions League. Worse still, Olympique Lyonnais is the beast of the Blaugranas in the final: a 4-1 defeat in 2018-19 then another 3-1 in 2021-22. In the meantime, Barça won the first Champions League in its history at the end of the 2020-21 season, but saw its dream of a historic double collide against the queens of the competition the following season.

Still far from passing the baton

At the time, Sonia Bompastor’s players did not like the arrogance of FC Barcelona and even spoke of a “reconquest” after seeing the title slip away from them. “Hearing that Barça were the favorites in this final really upset me, as a competitor. You should never speak beforehand, the pitch speaks”then launched the young Selma Bacha, decisive scorer against PSG on Sunday during the semi-final return.

“They still have to win a lot of Champions Leagues to make history and I say this as a Lyon player, because we have won it five times in a row,” had kindly reminded Ada Hegerberg in the columns of Mundo Deportivo in 2019. Barça has “only” two, but comes from much further than Olympique Lyonnais: when the Catalan club opened its professional women’s section in 2015, the Rhodaniennes already had two championship titles in Europe (2011, 2012).

Copying the model between stars and young people trained at the club set up by OL to triumph, FC Barcelona quickly caught up on the European scene and hopes to be able to measure up to the undisputed champions. “So far, we haven’t won against Lyon, even in a friendly match. OL is our rival to beat in the coming years. It’s a historic team, which has been doing things so well for years. My real goal is to win against Lyon.”admitted Aitana Bonmati at the microphone of beIN Sports on April 10.

A rivalry with Lyon, for lack of anything better

It must be said that the Blaugranas don’t really have any local rivals and this season again, they are crushing their championship: 23 wins, 1 draw, 106 goals scored and only 8 conceded. Olympique Lyonnais already has its duel with Paris Saint-Germain, not the most thrilling, but which helps maintain the suspense in D1 Arkema. Which makes Wendie Renard say that he “there is no rivalry” between Lyonnaises and Barcelonanaises: “If the two teams still find themselves in the final, it’s because they were more efficient.“

The Lyon captain still expects “a beautiful finale” . “I think they are keen, after everything we have shown against them, to win. But so do we. There is no favorite, we are in the Champions League final. It’s not because we’ve won the Champions League eight times before that that we win before even entering the field.” On the Barcelona side, the Catalan supporters are much more confident and have raided the places for the final before even being assured that Barça qualifies.

A common destiny

If the supporters of the two teams have learned to hate each other through the contested finals, the two clubs actually have more in common than they think: the coaches of the two teams, Sonia Bompastor and Jonatan Giraldez, will both leave their teams at the end of the season, while the respective leaders of their last clash, Ada Hegerberg and Alexia Putellas, are both in difficulty.

In any case, FC Barcelona and Olympique Lyonnais have much more important things in mind for the moment since neither is guaranteed to be champion: there are six league matches and a Spanish Cup final remaining to be played. to the Catalans against a semi-final or even a play-off final for the Lyonnaises. Deadlines that will put aside, for a month, the growing rivalry between the two?