Barcelona Femini won the Women’s Champions League 2022-23.Barcelona 3-2 Wolfsburg, Blaugrana comeback seals second Women’s Champions League final win. Barcelona recovered from 2-0 down at half-time to clinch the UEFA Women’s Champions League title for a second time.
Barcelona has won the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the second time in three years after a thrilling comeback from two down to beat Wolfsburg 3-2 in Eindhoven.
Ewa Pajor and Alex Popp had put Wolfsburg seemingly in control at half-time. But, within five minutes of the restart, Patri Guijarro scored twice to level the scores, and former Wolfsburg player Fridolina Rolfö later sealed only the second comeback from two goals down to win a final of this competition.
Key moments
3′ Pajor gets the ninth goal of the campaign
37′ Popp doubles lead from Pajor cross
48′ Guijarro pulls one back
50′ Guijarro heads equaliser
70′ Rolfö gives Barcelona lead
A fast start had proved the key in the previous four finals – three of those involving Barcelona – and the Blaugrana poured forward immediately, piling on the pressure. After just three minutes, however, they were behind, as Ewa Pajor dispossessed Lucy Bronze, cut inside, and fired in from outside the box for her competition-leading ninth goal of the season, and a strike similar to Amandine Henry’s opener for Lyon against Barcelona a year ago.
Barcelona responded confidently, Irene Paredes getting in a great position from a corner but heading wide of the far post. Aitana Bonmatí then had a shot blocked in the box, and Barcelona kept building in their trademark way, only to encounter tenacious pressing from the likes of Alex Popp – nominally Wolfsburg’s center-forward – Lena Oberdorf and Jill Roord.
In the 37th minute, Popp buried her record-equalling fourth goal in a final. Pajor was the provider this time, receiving the ball from Felicitas Rauch and sending in a perfect cross for her captain, playing in her seventh decider overall, to nod in. Barcelona needed a response and Bronze, a three-time winner with Lyon, nearly provided one just before half-time, forcing her way through and slipping the ball to Salma Paralluelo, who was denied at close range by Merle Frohms.
The first-half stats had Barcelona 16-3 up on attempts and they quickly added to their tally after the interval, Mariona Caldentey shooting straight at Frohms. And the next attempt was a goal, Bonmatí’s trickery freeing Caroline Graham Hansen for a clever cutback which set up Patri Guijarro to halve the deficit.
Two minutes later it was 2-2, and Guijarro was again the scorer, heading in after another superb piece of skill and perfect lobbed cross from Bonmatí. Barcelona was now pouring forward, stretching Wolfsburg on both flanks and bombarding the penalty area.
Wolfsburg was not giving up, though, and Dutch duo Lynn Wilms and Roord combined to feed Pajor, whose angled shot did not beat Sandra Paños. Pajor again had the ball in a similar position on the left a couple of minutes later – with the same result.
Instead, it was Barcelona who found the net once more. Soon after coming on, Geyse sent in a cross and an attempted Wilms clearance hit Kathrin Hendrich in the Wolfsburg box. Caldentey was there to pounce and somehow wriggled free of the defensive pair to feed former Wolfsburg player Fridolina Rolfö, who made no mistake with the goal gaping.
Key stats
Contesting their fourth final in five years, Barcelona won a second title to go with their 2020/21 triumph.
Barcelona is only the second team to come back from two goals down to win a final of this competition, Wolfsburg having done likewise against Tyresö in 2014.
Popp equaled Ada Hegerberg’s record of scoring in the final in four separate seasons.
Wolfsburg suffered their fourth straight final defeat after losing to Lyon in 2016, 2018, and 2020. They won the final in their first two European campaigns in 2012/13 and 2013/14.
Line-ups:
Barcelona: Paños; Bronze, Paredes, León, Rolfö; Bonmatí (Putellas 90), Walsh (Syrstad Engen 89), Guijarro; Graham Hansen (Crnogorčević 79), Caldentey (Pina 79), Paralluelo (Geyse 70)
Wolfsburg: Frohms; Wilms (Hegering 84), Hendrich, Janssen, Rauch; Oberdorf, Roord (Lattwein 71); Huth; Jónsdóttir, Popp, Pajor (Bremer 84
