Lyon have their trophy back.
The French club on Saturday beat defending champions and favorite Barcelona 3-1 to earn a record-extending eighth UEFA Women’s Champions League trophy.
“We felt a strength from all the team, I think everyone was motivated 200 percent,” said player of the match Amandine Henry, who scored a stunning opening goal.
Photo: AFP
“We had said since the beginning of the season that we wanted to win this trophy back. So we really wanted to make our mark on the field, and I think we did it more through mental strength than physical,” she said.
The final had it all: A contender for goal of the season early on — and an effort that would have given it strong competition had it gone in instead of hitting the woodwork — and a goal from the league’s all-time leading goal-scorer in her comeback season.
That helped put Lyon 3-0 up after just 33 minutes, and some resolute defending saw it cruise home, as coach Sonia Bompastor became the first woman to win the competition as a manager as well as a player.
“The feelings are the same in terms of intensity, as coach or as a player,” Bompastor said. “Because you know all the work that has gone into this, everything that has been done so we can hit this objective.”
She helped Lyon to their first two Champions League titles at the end of her playing career.
“The only difference between playing and coaching is experience. It was eight years ago and I’m a little bit older, a little bit wiser. What made me happy about tonight’s victory is that we were able to showcase exactly what this team is made of, individually and collectively,” she said.
Lyon have taken eight of the past 12 Women’s Champions Leagues. Captain Wendie Renard, Sarah Bouhaddi and Eugenie Le Sommer have been part of all those successes.
Nevertheless, Barcelona went into the final the favorite in Turin after one loss all season, and none domestically. That could have been its downfall.
“I don’t want to give an excuse. Our opponent had an amazing game and they deserved to win,” Barcelona coach Jonatan Giraldez said.
“The competitive rhythm of the season doesn’t depend on us. What we can do is in each game try to have a high level of competitiveness because that gets us ready for other games,” Giraldez said.
Giraldez’s side was also backed by a vociferous crowd. More than 35,000 tickets were sold for the final and the small pocket of Lyon fans — waving Norwegian flags for their star striker — were vastly outnumbered by their Barcelona counterparts.
“I felt as if we were playing in our own stadium, the noise they were doing was incredible. That’s why I feel so sad,” he added.
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