Barcelona are champions after a 3-2 comeback over Wolfsburg

Barcelona turned things on in the second half after being blown apart in the first half of their Champions League final clash on Saturday afternoon. Ewa Pajor and Alexandra Popp put the Germans upfront with strikes in the first half. That was, however, not enough as the Catalans stunned their opponents with a marvellous second-half comeback

Patri Guijarro scored twice in the first five minutes of the second half to level the contest as Wolfsburg watched its two-goal advantage vanish in no time. Pajor gave Wolfsburg the lead inside three minutes of the match thanks to some calamitous defending by Lucy Bronze. Alexandra Popp ensured the Germans went for the break with a big advantage after netting in the 37th minute.

But a Barcelona side that looked destined to suffer a repeat of the 2022 Juventus Stadium humbling against Lyon roared back into the game just three minutes after the restart. Patri Guijarro netted to halve the deficit before finding the equalizer a minute later.

Fridolina Rolfo completed the comeback with her 70th-minute effort. That ultimately stood as the winner as the Catalan side marshalled their lines to avoid conceding another goal.

Barcelona who were favourites ahead of the match at the sold-out Philips Stadion in Eindhoven seem to have got their spirit back thanks to a piece of encouragement from their skipper Alexia Putella during the break.

Keira Walsh told DAZN as quoted by Sky Sports “We came in at half-time and Alexia [Putellas] said that if there is any team that could overturn a 2-0, it is this team and that’s what we did”. Lucy Bronze whose mistake gifted Wolfsburg the first goal added, “We knew that we had quality and we could come back into any game. I don’t think we were ever worried about scoring three goals, which is a crazy feat to do, but that’s the talent of this team.”

If anything is undebatable about what Walsh and Bronze said, it is the quality of the team. Despite Wolsfubrg scoring first and storming to a two-goal lead, it was the Catalans who started off well and had more of the ball and opportunities in-between the two goals by the Germans.

Barcelona’s quality was in full show in both of their two goals as Caroline Graham Hansen took the ball through the right channel before turning it in at the middle for Guijarro to connect it in to begin the comeback. Aitana Bonmati did similar through the right wing too before flying in a cross for Guijarro to nod in for her second and the equalizer.

The third came with 20 minutes to play and it was thanks to errors in the Wolfsburg defence as Kathrin Hendrich was hit by Lynn Wilms’ attempted clearance which directed the ball to Mariona Caldentey. The Spanish forward held off pressure from the opposition to the ball through to Fridolina Rolf who eased it past Merle Fromes to complete the comeback.