from regular dolphin in Spain to great in Europe, the rise of Barça

Winner (5-1) of the first leg, FC Barcelona travels to Wolfsburg on Saturday April 30 for the return semi-final of the Women’s Champions League, in a comfortable position. This is anything but a surprise for a club whose women’s section, after years of construction, has become one of the greats in Europe. Back on a long journey towards consecration.

More than 91,000 spectators at Camp Nou for the Champions League semi-final first leg. A new attendance record for a women’s football match. This says a lot about the enthusiasm aroused by the new dimension taken by FC Barcelona, ​​with its women’s section. Defending champions, the Barcelonans made short work (5-1) of Wolfsburg, Europe’s great with its two coronations (2013 and 2014), to which are added three lost finals (2016, 2018, 2020) .

Already champions of Spain for the third time in a row, the Iberians have taken on a new dimension since 2019. Attached to the Catalan club since 2011, the women’s section is far from the winners of its men’s section and its aura. Four times crowned champions of Spain between 2012 and 2015, having acquired professional status in 2015, the Barcelona women have had more difficult years after professionalization. From 2016 to 2019, they had to settle for a dolphin status in Spain, overtaken by Bilbao and Atlético de Madrid. The Catalan team, however, gave a glimpse of great promise. “There were already good bases and good players but the project was in its infancy“, recalls the former French international Élise Bussaglia, who played there from 2017 to 2018. “The ambitions were clear: to join teams like Lyon and Wolfsburg.“

To rise, FC Barcelona has not departed from its eternal recipe: its game identity. A philosophy based on possession of the ball, as the ex-Blaugrana explains: “They are based on the formation, on Spanish players, who have the DNA of Barça instilled in their learning of football.“

The club has also reinforced its local squad with foreign players to make up for its shortcomings in the game.”The Spanish game is said to lack speed so they supplemented with players like Lieke Martens or Caroline Graham Hansen“, she justifies. This clever mix has made it possible to pass a milestone. Spanish team most present in the last four of the Champions League with four participations since 2016 (Atletico have never reached the semi-finals ), FC Barcelona even became the first Iberian team to play in a final, in 2019. Clearly dominated by Lyonnaises (4-1), three-time defending champions, the Catalan team learned, and solidified collectively: “Foreigners arrive in a new country and get used to a new style of play and a new team, which is not easy“, emphasizes Elise Bussaglia. “Little by little, the more players play together, the better they perform and the higher the level“, indicates the former tricolor.

Where the world of football stopped due to the Covid-19 pandemic, during the 2019-2020 season, in Catalonia, history started: a title of Spanish champion regained after five years of failure and a new semi-final in the Champions League. If Wolfsburg blocked the way to a second consecutive final, it was a simple setback before the consecration.

Lluís Cortés’ players largely dominated the 2020-2021 financial year with an exceptional record of 33 wins (167 goals scored, 15 goals conceded) and 25 points ahead of Real Madrid. The Catalans also won the Copa de la Reina. FC Barcelona completed their work by making their European dream come true by becoming the first Spanish team to lift the Champions League trophy, last May at the expense of Chelsea (4-0).

The advent of the team was the fruit of a maturation of the group, according to Elise Bussaglia: “There are girls who were very young, who played together for several years like Alexia Putellas, Mariona Caldentey or Sandra Paños. Today, they are 25, 26 years old and they are not far from the best level that they will reach.” An individual progression that benefits an increasingly fluid collective. “The professionalism, the means put in by the club, whether financial or structural, the work of the players, their efforts and their preparation off the pitch count and have improved enormously.“, she adds.

And the trend is growing. The Blaugranas won their third consecutive Spanish championship title prematurely, in March (146 goals scored and 8 conceded in 27 games). They won the only title missing from their list last year, the Spanish Super Cup, by beating former rivals Atlético Madrid (7-0). The symbol of absolute domination. Still in contention in the Copa de la Reina, the players of Jonatan Giraldez, replacing Lluís Cortés in the offseason, have achieved a faultless performance on the European scene so far. And the Ballon d’Or, won by Alexia Putellas, is one of the other signs of a continuous rise in power, which the club does not want to interrupt.

At the start of the season, Barça announced that nine young Blaugranas would now reside at La Masia, its famous training center, to better reconcile school careers and sporting excellence. A major asset, as Bussaglia explains: “There is a large pool, there are emerging players like Claudia Pina who was already training with the pros when I was at Barça. They will continue to form this hard core.”

Previously, they did not play at Camp Nou. That changes too. “The results, winning the Champions League, a Ballon d’Or player, is the best publicity. We talk about filling a Camp Nou, it’s fantastic“, rejoices Elise Bussaglia. But the European competition is not the same as on the other side of the Pyrenees: “There are so many teams, like Lyon, Paris or the English clubs that are developing, that we cannot say that they will win the Champions League 3 or 5 years in a row. But they will settle in the best teams, which each year can claim the title“Said the former midfielder.

By Gervaise Doublet and Marie Diémé @lequipiere