Barça seeks to be hegemonic in Turin. They will try to revalidate their continental title against Olympique de Lyon, who humiliated them in the 2019 final, after having eliminated Wolfsburg, who knocked them out in the semifinals in 2020. This afternoon the Blaugrana can close the circle and shout to the world that they have come to stay. It won't be easy at all, but the most beautiful challenges are never easy and this is the most attractive final you could imagine, the one that pits the two best teams in Europe, and perhaps in the world, against each other.
Two years ago, that painful and revealing defeat in Budapest became the engine that drove the definitive change in Barcelona. An evolution that had begun much earlier, in 2015, when the section became professional and the foundations for this successful project were laid. The 4-1 that the French endorsed them was a reality bath for the locker room that, in a certain way, was released. “It was as if a weight was lifted off our shoulders. So this is the level, all right”, they remember from the Barça dressing room.
The path was clear and the locker room did not deviate at any time. They trained more and better, with perseverance, never giving up and knowing that this was the only way to be able to protect the biggest ones. At the Reale Arena a year later they would show that they were on the right track. They were superior, but a goal from the now Blaugrana Rolfö left them out of the final. It was the day of the famous "there is no distance" by Alexia Putellas. And he was right, but they had to wait another year to, this time, live the sweetest face of this sport, the long-awaited victory. In Göteborg they lifted the first Champions League and at the Juventus Stadium they want to defend their reign.
Today the role of favorites is for them, the current champions, the current Ballon d'Or team, which has only lost one game all year. "From a conditional point of view, Barça is now a team that can compete against any team in the world," warned Barça coach Jonatan Giráldez in the preview. “We know the expectation that we have generated”, confessed the captain Alexia Putellas, who assured that the confidence of the team is “maximum” and that they will know how to “channel” the push that the nearly 15,000 fans who will support them in the Juventus stands will give them Stadium. It would be the perfect icing after having suffered the punishment of lifting his first Champions League behind closed doors due to the pandemic.
But Lyon is a rival that cannot be underestimated. With seven Champions behind them, last year's setback doesn't matter, in which they failed to reach the final, nor the irregular start to the season they have had this year. The victory over PSG in the semi-finals has given them back the confidence that was shattered when they were eliminated in the quarterfinals last year. They have healed the wounds, they have recovered their star after 21 months of injury and they want to return to the top. They have winning team DNA. A team that knows what it means to win and, even more difficult, to keep winning. Players like Wendie Renard, Ada Hegerberg or Eugénie Le Sommer, with nine finals behind them, are not players who chicken out easily.
The blank year makes them more dangerous and they arrive in Turin with the sole objective of reconquering Europe. "It's normal that they want us", recognized the azulgrana who knows Lyon best, Irene Paredes. The former PSG player warns that it will be a tough battle: “I have spoken with my teammates to explain some details that cannot be seen in the videos, but we are the two best teams in Europe, and perhaps in the world. It will be very close." Beside her, Alexia Putellas confessed that winning Lyon in the final would be “the perfect movie”. "This started with a defeat against them and can end with a victory over this same team, it would be closing the circle", predicted Mollet's.
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