Barcelona, Wolfsburg have eyes on the prize
Both teams in the Women’s Champions League final have something to prove.
Barcelona was eyeing back-toback titles last year before being upended by Lyon, while two-time champion Wolfsburg has lost the last three times it has made it this far. They will meet Saturday at PSV Stadium.
It’s the third final in a row for Barcelona and fourth in the past five years. The Catalan club routed Chelsea 4-0 in 2021, becoming the first team from Spain to win the title.
“I think we need to appreciate what reaching our fourth final means because the road has not been easy,” Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmatí told The Associated Press. “When you look back at the teams we have beaten and everything we have won you have to give it the merit it deserves.”
Wolfsburg forward Alexandra Popp led the German league in scoring with 16 goals after helping her national team reach the final of the European Championship. This will be her seventh Champions League final.
She was a teenager on Duisburg’s championship team in 2009 before joining Wolfsburg and helping the She-Wolves win the trophy in 2013 and 2014.
For Barcelona, two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas is back from an ACL injury, but the midfielder has yet to start a game since her return. She came off the bench in each of the last six Spanish league matches and scored in Barcelona’s season finale.
PSV Stadium has sold out, with capacity capped at 34,100. It will break the Dutch record for a women’s game of 30,640, at the same venue in 2019 when the national team hosted Australia. Both teams picked up more than 4,500 tickets for their own supporters.