Barcelona 1-3 Lyon: OL win eighth UEFA Women's Champions League final in thriller

Lyon won the UEFA Women's Champions League for the eighth time as they dethroned holders Barcelona with a 3-1 victory in Turin, all the goals coming in the first half.

Amandine Henry, Ada Hegerberg and Catarina Macario put Lyon three up before Alexia Putellas pulled one back. The action did not stop in the second period but Lyon, 12 months after Barcelona replaced them as champions, are on top again.

Match in brief: Early burst tames Barcelona

The huge Barcelona travelling support in an attendance of over 30,000 was stunned at its own end six minutes in when Amandine Henry curled in a superb effort from distance. Barcelona responded swiftly and Christiane Endler was called into action by Jenni Hermoso, who was then denied by a great saving tackle from Selma Bacha.

Catarina Macario (right) and Ada Hegerberg (centre) celebrate Lyon's third goalUEFA via Getty Images

Bacha was overlapping on the right and she made the second goal as she swung in a cross met by a perfect header from Ada Hegerberg, already a hat-trick scorer in the 2019 final defeat of Barcelona.

Amazingly, it was three later in the half, Catarina Macario forcing the ball in after a defensive mix-up. Hegerberg was then denied by Sandra Paños, but there was hope for Barcelona before the break when Alexia Putellas turned in Caroline Graham Hansen's cross, the captain's competition-leading 11th goal of the season.

Endler was relieved not long prior to the hour mark when Patri Guijarro tried a lob from the halfway line with the Lyon keeper out of her goal, only for the ball to drop onto the crossbar. Barcelona sent on Asisat Oshoala, who headed fractionally wide, and fellow substitute Ana-Maria Crnogorčević also volleyed just past the post. But in a finish as breathless as the start in a sweltering Turin, with Hegerberg hitting the post, Lyon held on and the celebrations began.

Visa Player of the Match: Amandine Henry (Lyon)

"Henry was the director of the game. She kept the team together. She was always the cover in midfield. Her clever interceptions took pressure off the defence. In attack, she found the openings with great awareness, often with one-touch passes. In the early stage of the game, she opened the scoring with a cracker. That first goal showed the way to victory."
UEFA Technical Observer panel

Reporters views

Paul Saffer, UEFA.com match reporter: A final to rank with the best: Wolfsburg 4-3 Tyresö in 2014 and the Frankfurt 3-2 Umeå second leg in 2008. Ever since last year's decider, the European women's club game has seemed to belong to Barcelona, but Lyon are back in charge after a mere 12-month interregnum. Henry was at her vintage best, Selma Bacha was brilliant at left-back, Hegerberg did Hegerberg things, and Wendie Renard lifted this trophy once more.

Barcelona's dejected players at the end of the matchGetty Images

Alexandra Jonsson, Barcelona reporter: Barcelona came into this final as the favourites. They'd been unstoppable all season, winning all but one of their games, but perhaps that was their downfall in this final. Up against a very good Lyon, Barcelona were caught completely off guard. They are used to always being on the ball and getting it back quickly when they lose it; not so this evening. Barcelona have been on top of the world for some time; today they got a challenge they couldn't overcome, but to look at the silver lining, perhaps that will help take them up yet another level.

Vanessa Tomaszewski, Lyon reporter: From the beginning, Lyon piled on the pressure, and their three-goal burst both damaged Barcelona's morale and showed the efficiency of Sonia Bompastor's team. This match was also a beautiful duel between Henry and Putellas. Bacha revealed herself again as a passer, in a season where she got nine assists in this competition, three clear of the next best tally. With Bompastor herself also setting a new mark, Lyon have made yet more history.

Reaction

Sonia Bompastor, Lyon coach: "My team talk was very easy. This is the most beautiful match and beautiful competition a club can dream of playing. So you need to be up to scratch ... It's the first time [someone has won this competition as a player and a coach]; we are making history. But what's important is that it was the tenth final for the club and a chance to get an eighth title. It's a victory I want to savour but it's not me who should be in the spotlight: it's my players and the staff."

Amandine Henry, Player of the Match: "I could see a space [for the goal] and I went for it! I tried my luck and I saw exactly where it was going. I didn't even wait for it to go into the top corner before I was celebrating! I do like these type of games. This gets into my core; I love games like this. I also have some fantastic team-mates around me. They make it like easier, The whole team has won this trophy today."

Wendie Renard, Lyon captain: "[On whether Lyon were underdogs] That's what journalists said. We wanted to keep on writing our story and we had things to show, so tonight we showed what we could do and we showed it well because we're leaving with the trophy."

Jonatan Giráldez, Barcelona coach: "We knew they would put lot of pressure on us. The first goal, an astonishing goal, made us very confused. We were a bit out of place. We knew the key to the game was to control their transitions and for some minutes we weren't able to do that. We had to go deeper and that gave them a lot of energy. We tried to get a quick equaliser but at 3-1 we were way behind. We want to congratulate them – they are an amazing team."

Key stats

• Lyon have now won eight titles, twice as many as the next best tally (Frankfurt with four).
• Wendie Renard and Eugénie Le Sommer have played in all eight of those final wins.
• Sonia Bompastor, a winner with Lyon in 2011 and 2012, became the first woman to both play and coach in a final.
• Lyon became the first team to play in ten finals and Renard the first player to do so, ending a season in which she became the first to pass 100 competition appearances; she is now on 102.

Lyon's victorious players celebrate in front of their fansGetty Images

• Hegerberg got her 59th European goal in her 60th appearance, and her sixth in finals (four against Barcelona). Only Conny Pohlers (eight) has more final goals; Hegerberg is now level with Marta.
• Macario became the first American to score in a final.
• Barcelona had not trailed by three goals in any match since the 2019 final against Lyon.
• There were four goals in the first half of the final for the third time in four years but, unlike 2019 and 2021, not all for the same team.
• Lyon set a new record for both games in a UEFA women's club season (13) and wins (11).

Line-ups

Barcelona: Paños; Torrejón (Crnogorčević 59), Irene Paredes, Mapi León, Rolfö (Pina 75); Aitana, Patri Guijarro, Alexia; Graham Hansen, Jenni Hermoso (Oshoala 46), Mariona (Martens 59)

Lyon: Endler; Carpenter (Buchanan 14), Renard, Mbock Bathy (Cayman 81), Bacha; Horan, Henry, Macario; D Cascarino (Morroni 81), Hegerberg, Malard (Le Sommer 72)