Five Things From Last Weekend
Five things, four of which have to do with the Champions League final!
At the weekend it was FINALLY time for the Champions League final! The culmination of a football season that has given us a lot of excitement and unexpected results. Yet here we were, at the end of it all, with the two teams most expected to be there.
Barcelona have managed to ride out all the chaos in the club on the men’s side and completed a domestic triple, and their sights were now set on adding that fourth elusive title to make it an unprecedented quadruple, and even more importantly, finally getting that win over Lyon (they had never managed to beat the French side previously.) Mapi León was the only notable absence, as both Alexia Putellas and Fridolina Rolfö have worked their way back from injury.
Lyon had steadily made it to yet another Champions League final after having won the French league for a record 17th time. Ada Hegerberg, who has been dealing with injuries for a longer time and had not been available for the semifinal clashes against Paris Saint-Germain, was cleared for playing.
It was the last game in charge for both of the head coaches, with the worst kept secret in women’s football being Sonia Bompastor’s departure to London and Chelsea to take over from Emma Hayes, whilst Jonathan Giraldez had already been presented as the new manager of NWSL side Washington Spirit.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff5d8b4c8-037d-4597-a72c-11c893a20720_6144x4096.jpeg)
This game qualifies for one of those “where were you when …” statements: where were you when the attendance record for a women’s Champions League final was broken and the potential power balance between two top clubs was shifting, in a city brimming with football fans.
Well … I propped up my phone on the metal shelf in the backroom, as I was loading on dishes to be fed into the giant dishwasher at the café. I carried the phone with me as I was wiping down tables with one hand, stopping momentarily to just stare and silently mouthing “no way” when Aitana Bonmatis shot went in. Balancing dishes and taking out the trash to the soundtrack of the rapid Spanish commentary. I managed to catch the last 10 minutes of the game undisturbed as I was on the tram, and could therefore let my tears flow freely when Alexia Putellas came on to score that beauty of a goal. As she ripped off her shirt, letting it hang in her mouth as she was pumping her fist in the air.
It’s getting harder and harder, not being there for these moments. Reflecting on this from behind the bar, typing these words out in stolen moments between coffees made and cinnamon buns being heated up.I don’t know if we can speak of control here, but in general Barcelona had it a lot more under wraps than I expected — there were a few chaotic moments, sure, but more in Barcelona’s favour and it seemed like Lyon rarely threatened very much. Lucy Bronze was immense for the Blaugrana defense, so was Cata Coll. Aitana Bonmati and Patri Guijarro were also incredible, just like they have been all season. As much as we all love La Reina, these players are the backbone of this season’s team.
Tobin Heath debriefs the game very well, and Shebahn Aherne (a presenter with DAZN) treats us to a pitch side vlog and lots of behind the scenes insights. Her twin sister Ruesha Littlejohn, who is due to feature for Ireland in their doubleheader against Sweden this weekend, has a slightly more chaotic vlog from Bilbao if that’s more your thing. Falling in love with the emergence of all these characters in women’s football at the moment, both from within the game - the likes of Ruesha, Ella Toone’s youtube and Kristie Mewis’ tiktoking - and the people who cover them.With the emergence of characters, however, follow the influencers - people flown in by brands and bussed to these football games, attended in-between workshops and long dinners, like it’s any other corporate event. Sometimes the lines between coverage and PR are thinly drawn, and a bit squiggly. It is frustrating to know that if I agreed to run the errands of X brand, I would have a considerably higher chance of getting paid to go to these games. However, it poses real questions about motivation and vested interests. Navigating sports media in general is general is tricky, and there are conversations to be had about traditional vs independent media.
Women’s football getting coverage is good, regardless of the quality thereof, because it starts conversations. Influencers have a lot of power and they should use it to highlight the different sides of women’s football. It’s great that a lot more power lays in the hands of the athletes themselves as well, to make a living on their sport and after they’ve hung their boots up. There needs to be a space for journalists and writers as well.
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F48a65cb3-2a91-4870-a41d-c3ec448c68f0_800x600.png)
It is telling that the game is developing and growing before our eyes. The comparison between the game two years ago and now is huge, not to mention when Barcelona won it the first time against Chelsea in the middle of the pandemic in 2021, or when Lyon started their five-CL-title winning-streak in 2016.
I liked this interview with Ada Hegerberg which, more than previewing the game, illuminates how Lyon sees themselves and are seen.
“I feel like Lyon has kind of been the big dog, but at the same time, it's becoming like a little village fighting against all these big clubs and their economy coming in, which is also cool in some way,” Hegerberg said to GOAL.
We had an advantage, but we kind of lost that, even though we stayed at the top, and now we're fighting on a different level again. I enjoy it.”
What Hegerberg is reflecting on here is very interesting - Lyon was recently acquired by businesswoman Michele Kang, who owns the majority share of the team (she also owns Washington Spirit, Giraldez’s new team) and she has a lot of exciting plans for the women’s side like a new stadium and training facilities. Their future is looking bright in terms of investment and rightfully so, as the most successful women’s club team to date.
The double-club spell is real, however, and we have seen teams like Barcelona, Arsenal, and Hammarby seemingly effortlessly getting their supporters of the men’s team to move over to support the women’s side too (of course, in the case of Arsenal for example, there is a pre-existing long and proud history of support as a pioneer within the women’s game.)
I wonder what that looks like for a team like Lyon, who have a men’s team that they have been infinitely more successful than, having little “use” of that support in the sense that the team’s successes really should speak for themselves.
This does not even begin to factor in the women’s clubs - your Glasgow City’s, Doncaster Rovers Belles’ and FC Rosengård’s who don’t have that kind of backing to begin with.I love this photo essay by Hannah Cauhépé in the Guardian, which beautifully captures the essence of going to a women’s football game. There are people, young and old. Lots of queerness. Very many old football players, even some adjacent to the French team that traveled to Mexico for the unofficial World Cup in 1971 !!
Finally, there are other things happening this weekend … The Scottish Cup final took place between Rangers - Hearts, and you can listen to Matt and Peter talk about it, amongst many other things (like the potential suspension of Israel in UEFA, Scotland’s role in it and the protest at Hampden 31 May.)
Here’s the new gorgeous mural they’re referring to at Hampden, co-painted by a fellow Cathkin Blazes player, Hana Lindsay, and designed and painted by Molly Hankinson. Brilliant stuff! Cannae believe it’s been 150 years of kicking a ball about on the gorgeous slopes of Scotland. Read my piece on why there’s an argument to be made that Scotland is in fact the birthplace of modern football.Also Häcken won against Hammarby, Rosengård just can’t stop scoring (they’ve won 8/8 and a goal difference of 25) and Damallsvenskan has created a Fantasy League - what a dream, let’s play!!
Love this!