Soccer-Favourites Barcelona not taking Arsenal lightly in women's CL final
Soccer Football - Women's Champions League - Final - FC Barcelona Training - Estadio Jose Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal - May 23, 2025 FC Barcelona's Salma Paralluelo during training REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura
LISBON (Reuters) - Although Barcelona are strong favourites to hoist the women's Champions League trophy on Saturday for the fourth time in five years, they will be taking nothing for granted.
Barcelona play Arsenal at Lisbon's Estadio Jose Alvalade and while the London side were the 2007 champions and once regulars in the competition's latter stages, the pendulum has now swung heavily in the Spanish side's favour.
Barcelona players have made 48 collective appearances in Champions League finals, according to Opta Sports, while Mariona Caldentey is their only Arsenal player to have featured in the final, playing in five for Barcelona between 2019-24.
"A final is unpredictable. There may be things you can't control," Barca midfielder Alexia Putellas told reporters on Friday. "We know we can do it. It is true that Arsenal are a great team and that they are in the final for a reason."
Aitana Bonmati, the Ballon d'Or winner in 2023 and 2024, said the experience gained from previous finals was invaluable.
"I've learned a lot of things. It is the path that has fallen to us. The first final in Budapest was an inexperienced team that was going to see what happened. Now we are the team to beat," she said.
"Knowing how to be, knowing how to suffer is very important. And never giving up. We have had finals where we have come back. We have had games of all colours."
Arsenal were Barcelona's first opponents in Europe's top club competition in the 2012-13 season, when the English side crushed the Catalans 7-0 over two legs.
Barcelona were nowhere near as good as they are now, however. They overwhelmed Chelsea, who went unbeaten across the 22-game Women's Super League season en route to winning the title, 8-2 on aggregate in the Champions League semi-finals.
"Everything leads you to be what you are now," Putellas said. "In that first match of this competition it was unthinkable what would come next. It's thanks to work. I feel privileged to have been able to live this whole journey."
Barcelona coach Pere Romeu described Arsenal as a "brave team" who are strong in the box.
"We will have to show our best version," he said. "We know the type of game we want to play. We are a team with records, with mastery at different times. We will try to exploit the space they leave us."
(Reporting by Lori Ewing, editing by Ed Osmond)
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