Were there any real differences between the implacable defeat (0-2) suffered by the French team in the final of the Nations League in Spain at the end of February, and that suffered by the same score, three months later, by the Lyonnaises against FC Barcelona? If so, we must admit that they did not jump out at us, as the Iberian technical mastery was so obvious in both cases. If we add to this the opening of the score, work in these two finals of the 2023 Ballon d’or Aitana Bonmati, the comparison would almost be disturbing. And this despite the fact that the OL players completely refused to consider any parallel between a Spain-France and a Barça-Lyon, a few days before this epilogue of the 2023-2024 Champions League.
“The situation is clear: when you play against Barcelona or the Spanish national team, you cannot necessarily compete in terms of technique,” Lyon coach Sonia Bompastor admitted this Saturday. They are extremely strong. We had to make sure we kept the ball as long as possible when we had it. And one of the keys is to be aggressive and prevent them from playing. When you give them a little leeway, they punish you. »
After a rather interesting first period on this point, apart from the systematically dangerous raids “left” to the twirling Caroline Graham Hansen, OL suffered far too much. “We have to be lucid, congratulations to the Barcelona women,” said Wendie Renard hotly and elegantly at the microphone of DAZN. They mastered their match. We had opportunities but we didn’t know how to hurt them. You have to lose with class and serenity. It’s tiring to face these players capable of doing tiki-taka in the middle and controlling the ball to perfection. »
Technical ease, we come back to it, when Lyon’s attempts at counterattacks were most often marked by bad choices. Delphine Cascarino did not hide her disappointment either: “We really expected this final. We worked throughout the season for this. And there you have it, Barcelona were very strong and we missed out this evening.” However, history clearly leaned in favor of OL, winners of the Champions League eight times since 2011, including twice by defeating Barça in the final (4-1 in 2019, 3-1 in 2022).
Better yet, Wendie Renard’s teammates had won each of their four direct confrontations against the Catalans (2-1 and 1-0 in the quarter-finals of the European Cup in 2018). Should we therefore see in the little football lesson sometimes suffered this Saturday a transfer of power? “They corrected certain things very well compared to the last final,” notes the Lyon captain. Look at their joy, they’ve been chasing a victory against OL for a while and it had to happen one day. »
Sonia Bompastor goes further: “The reality is that Barcelona has just won two consecutive titles [et même trois des quatre derniers en C1]. They are in a very positive dynamic through the results, the quality of play and the number of spectators they bring back to the stadium [50.827 personnes à Bilbao ce samedi]. This is very positive, we will have to find ideas to counteract all this. OL continue to have an ambitious and clear project with the arrival of Michele Kang. It must not be very pleasant for her to experience this defeat. I remain confident for OL, you will always be able to count on the club. »
And this even if Sonia Bompastor should no longer be at its head, since after three seasons, including a Champions League won and three D1s, she should go to the Chelsea bench this summer, which she refused to do. confirm after this final. On the verge of tears in her post-match interview on DAZN, the Lyon coach in any case appeared very marked by the progress/outcome of this almost one-sided final. As if an entire club was stunned to understand that its place was no longer on the roof of Europe, after so many years of ultra-domination.