On Saturday afternoon, Barcelona defeated Wolfsburg 3-2 in the women's Champions League final thanks to an incredible second-half comeback.
Barcelona's Alexia Putellas, the team's captain, called her team's 3-0 defeat to Lyon in the 2017 Champions League final "traumatic." The captain must have started to feel symptoms of PTSD when seeing Barcelona lose the first half 2-0 from the bench.
Within five minutes of the restart, Patri Guijarro scored twice, effectively dispelling any lingering doubt. In the 70th minute, Fridolina Rolfo—who with Wolfsburg defeated Barcelona in the semi-finals three years ago—completed an incredible comeback.
The Champions League final erupted in a flurry of early activity for the third consecutive year. Barcelona trailed Lyon to Amandine Henry's miraculous goal in the European Championship final last year after taking the lead against Chelsea in the first minute in 2021. At a packed Philips Stadion on Saturday, Ewa Pajor put Wolfsburg up in less than 200 seconds.
The competition's leading scorer this year forced Lucy Bronze to give up the ball on the edge of the box before hammering home her ninth goal in the Champions League past Sandra Panos' dive.
Irene Paredes and Caroline Graham Hansen missed two excellent chances from inside the box as Barcelona immediately regained their composure, pinning Wolfsburg back and flooding down the flanks.
In comparison, Wolfsburg was ruthlessly effective. Pajor changed roles and found her captain, Alexandra Popp, in just their second significant attack of the first half. Popp increased Wolfsburg's advantage with a thumping header after darting into an unorganized penalty area.
Barcelona had repeatedly aimed their assaults down the left wing during the first half, creating space for a low ball into the box that harmlessly drifted across the area. After the break, Guijarro made sure there was an additional set of blue and red stripes in the box.
Before identifying Guijarro's late bursts, Graham Hansen and Aitana Bonmati alternated harassing Wolfsburg's struggling left-back Felicitas Rauch for as many minutes.
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