For the first time in the club’s history, Barcelona won successive UEFA Women’s Champions League titles, beating Lyon 2-0 in Saturday evening’s final.

Goals from Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas at the Estadio San Mames gave the Blaugrana their third triumph in the competition, bettered by only Lyon and Frankfurt since the tournament was introduced in 2001.

🔵🏆🔴#UWCLfinal || #UWCL pic.twitter.com/gykJN6HOWI

— UEFA Women’s Champions League (@UWCL) May 25, 2024

Despite convincingly sitting atop the Spanish Liga F division, Barcelona knew that facing Lyon in the Champions League final was going to be a tough test. The French team have won the competition on more occasions than any other team, boasting eight titles to their name, including five successive wins from 2016 to 2020. Les Gones have also been on fire in France’s Division 1, winning the title by beating PSG in the play-off final earlier this month and only losing one game throughout the whole season.

Alongside this, they were also unbeaten in their previous five encounters with Saturday’s opponents, scoring 13 and conceding just five in that run.

However, Barcelona also had a record of their own to boast coming into the match. The Catalan side arrived in Bilbao on a seven-game winning streak, including an impressive 2-0 victory against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge to secure their progression from the semi-finals. Over this period, Jonatan Giraldez’s side had scored a relentless 37 goals, an average of more than five a game. As they sought to reclaim their European crown, Barcelona knew that Lyon would prove to be a much more formidable outfit than their recent opponents though.

In a game of few clear cut chances, it took 63 minutes for either side to find the breakthrough. Mariona Caldentey’s cleverly threaded pass found the stride of Bonmati whose low strike inside the penalty area took a cruel deflection off the outstretched leg of Vanessa Gilles, leaving Christiane Endler helpless in the Lyon goal. The French side had multiple opportunities to hit back and take the game to extra time, however it was Barcelona captain Putellas who struck the decisive blow five minutes into added time. With Lyon in retreat, Claudia Pina surged into the 18-yard box before cutting the ball back to Putellas who powered brilliantly into the roof of the net to send the Barcelona fans into delirium.

By sealing the European crown once more, Barcelona set a club record, winning four trophies in a single top-flight season for the first time.

Following the match, England International Lucy Bronze spoke about how this year’s Barcelona team will go down in history:

“We knew we needed to be a club that made history”, Bronze told DAZN.

“It's not easy, it's hard to win it once, but to do it back to back, Lyon showed how difficult it is. This team's finally done that. I think we go down in history as one of the best teams in Europe."

🏆™️ UWCL trophy No.5 for Lucy Bronze #UWCLfinal || @LucyBronze pic.twitter.com/34Uo5FqkKx

— UEFA Women’s Champions League (@UWCL) May 25, 2024