Olympique de Lyon came down to earth at Barcelona. The team that two years ago showed Barça the path to follow to be European champion after the painful and revealing defeat in the 2019 final in Budapest, has been the same one that has brought the Catalan team back to reality. But this time it hurts more. Because if then the team was not prepared and knew its limitations, this Barça knows that it is capable of competing against any rival in the world.
He was unrecognizable, he was perhaps guilty of overconfidence that against a Lyon wanting to reconquer Europe is paid dearly and he allowed himself to be overwhelmed by the rival. He threw away the first part, letting himself be carried away by the physical game of the rival, a field in which he had nothing to do, and in the second, with a more recognizable football, he lacked success and strength to get back into the game.
Barça did not start well. And it got worse. From the first minutes, a very imprecise and poorly placed team was seen that was overwhelmed by the intensity that Lyon gave them from the initial whistle. It would take Amandine Henry six minutes to rescue the ghosts of that fateful 2019 final, putting Lyon ahead with a powerful shot into the top corner by a Sandra Paños who could only limit herself to the role of an impotent spectator. The French team surpassed in each action an unrecognizable Barça team that, impotent, protested every foul. He couldn't get into the match and Lyon, a wounded lion, smelled blood and went straight for the jugular. Ada Hegerberg sent a Bacha cross to the back of the net that was very poorly defended by the defense, increasing Lyon's confidence and Barça's doubts in equal parts.
Despite the fact that the physical condition of the Catalans has nothing to do with that of a few years ago, the French giant is still physically a superior team. Barcelona's only chance of success was to be faithful to its style and display its football. But the team was missing. Paños avoided the third by deflecting a new shot from the Norwegian striker with her leg, but Catarina Macario would not forgive shortly after when she had only to push the ball an assist from Hegerberg herself. Minute 33 and 0-3. The ghost of Budapest hovered over Juventus Stadium.
And when everything seemed lost, Alexia Putellas appeared. The captain closed the gap, to the relief of the numerous Barça fans, finishing off a pass from Hansen and taking advantage of Mbock's opportune slip. A goal that managed to stop the barrage to go to rest and try to fix the disaster in the second half. Giráldez had to correct many things and the abyss that had allowed Lyon to open made a comeback almost impossible.
He understood what he had to do and came out with a different mindset. He tried to recover his identity and his football, but against a rival like Lyon it would not be easy at all. He was struggling to circulate the ball at his usual pace and the French were constantly on the lookout for an error to exploit. Oshoala, who had entered the break, tried to create danger, but without success. Who was closest to him would be Patri Guijarro, with a powerful cannon shot from the center of the field he was about to surprise Endler, but his shot crashed into the crossbar. Barça had to take advantage of the inertia, but Lyon knew it and tried to stop the game with constant fouls and wasting time that unhinged the azulgranas. Time was running out and Barça's goals did not come. As the end of the game approached, the blaugranas had more possession, but they did not arrive clearly, beyond a shot to the side of the net by Rolfö, a tight shot by Oshoala or an attempt by Crnogorcevic that went wide. It was not enough.
It will be difficult to recover from this blow, but not even a victory would have made this team immortal, nor should a defeat forget all the way that has been traveled. Barça has reached a level of play that is praised throughout the world and has combined it with a physique at the height of very few. In fact, only three teams have managed to beat the Catalan side since their first Champions League final: Lyon, Wolfsburg and Manchester City.
The nearly 15,000 fans who invaded the streets of Turin to accompany their team are also a clear reflection of the social change that they have promoted. Thousands of people traveled more than eight hundred kilometers that separate Barcelona from Turin, pushed by a team that brings together all the illusions of Barcelona, something unthinkable a few years ago.
Defeat will sting for a while, but if this team has shown anything, it is that they know how to get up after a setback and get the best learning from a defeat. If the 2019 final ignited the spark of the best Barça in history, who knows what Barcelona could become, because despite the defeat, Barça has already won by conquering ground that will not yield. There is no way back.
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