Barcelona defeat Lyon to win Women’s Champions League – with Lionesses stars of the show
Barcelona 2 Lyon 0
England duo Lucy Bronze and Keira Walsh lifted the Women’s Champions League title for the second consecutive season with Barcelona as the Catalan club beat Sonia Bompastor’s Lyon 2-0 in a tense final.
Frenchwoman Bompastor, who is set to replace Emma Hayes at Chelsea following Hayes’ move to take over the United States, had been hoping to sign off from her three-year spell in charge of Lyon with a second European title of her managerial career to date. But Ballon d’Or-winning Spain midfielder Aitana Bonmati’s deflected second-half strike fired Barcelona ahead and late substitute Alexia Putellas settled the contest deep into stoppage time.
Barcelona’s victory saw Lionesses right-back Bronze become the first English footballer to win five European Cups, moving past legendary Liverpool men’s full-back Phil Neal’s four European titles with the Merseyside outfit. The 32-year-old from Berwick-upon-Tweed produced a resolute defensive performance, making two crucial blocks and thwarting a late Lyon attack with a brave header at the back post.
As well as 2023’s triumph over Wolfsburg with Barcelona, Bronze had previously won the Women’s Champions League three times in a row with Saturday’s opponents Lyon between 2018 and 2020 and she was included in the starting line-up in Bilbao along with Walsh, who was in typically superb form in her defensive midfield role. Walsh was substituted in second-half stoppage time and replaced by former Ballon d’Or winner Putellas, who swept home a classy left-footed strike to secure the victory with one of her first acts after coming on.
Prior to that, Bompastor’s side had been applying pressure in search of an equaliser, after stylish attacking midfielder Bonmati – who also won the Fifa Best award in 2023 after playing a starring role in helping Spain win last year’s World Cup – saw her close-range, left-footed shot deflect kindly over Lyon’s Chile goalkeeper Christiane Endler.
Amongst British footballers, only Welshman Gareth Bale’s five Champions League titles with Real Madrid can now match Bronze’s haul, whilst in the British women’s game, Bronze has been in uncharted territory for several years already when it comes to club-level success on the continent.
It was Barcelona’s third women’s European final to date, and they were competing in their fourth consecutive final, their fifth in six seasons, as their spell of dominance in this decade continued.
Lyon are still the women’s competition’s most successful team with a record eight titles, but Bompastor’s side were heavily outnumbered in the stands, with Barcelona being supported by an army of around 40,000 supporters who had made the journey across northern Spain.
Telegraph Sport exclusively revealed in April that a deal had been reached for Bompastor to replace Hayes at Chelsea. Neither club has yet confirmed the move, but it’s been anticipated that an announcement will be made after this final, with Lyon trying to prevent the news from being a distraction as they prepared for their 11th European final since 2010.
Despite her disappointment on Saturday, Bompastor remains the only female manager to win the Women’s Champions League title within the past 15 years, having overseen Lyon’s surprise victory over Barcelona in Turin, Italy, in 2022.
There was further English involvement in this final amongst the officials, with referee Rebecca Welch becoming the first woman from England to take charge of a major international tournament final. She was assisted by Natalie Aspinall and Emily Carney, whilst Stuart Attwell was in the VAR studio. Last December, Welch became the first woman to referee a Premier League fixture.
The crowd of 50,827 in Bilbao pips the previous club-level women’s European final attendance record of 50,212, which had been set in Munich in 2012.
Match details
Barcelona (4-3-3): Coll 7; Bronze 8, Paredes 6, Engen 6, Rolfo 6 (Batlle 6, 67); Bonmati 8, Walsh 8 (Putellas 7, 90+2), Guijarro 7, Graham Hansen 6, Paralluelo 6 (Brugts 6, 85), Caldentey 6 (Pina 6, 90+2)
Subs not used: Panos (gk), Gemma (gk), Mapi Leon, Jana, Marta, Bruna, Vicky, Martina
Yellow cards: Putellas
Lyon (4-3-3): Endler 6; Carpenter 5, Renard 5, Gilles 6 (Becho 6, 81), Bacha 6; Horan 7, Egurolla 6, Van de Donk 6 (Hegerberg 6, 81); Diani 6, Dumornay 7, Cascarino 6 (Majri 6, 63)
Subs not used: Belhadj (gk), Benkarth (gk), Morroni, Marozsan, Sombath, Marques, Mbock Bathy
Yellow cards: Renard, Endler
Attendance: 50,827
