The UEFA Women's Champions League final kicks off on Saturday, with the defending champion Barcelona Femeni facing off against French giants Olympique Lyonnais Feminin.
On one side, there is the team that blanked English champions Chelsea, 4-0, in last year's final, and went on to go unbeaten during their 2021-22 season, with 30 wins in 30 games, scoring 159 goals as a team – a team that has changed women's football, breaking the attendance record at Camp Nou as almost 100,000 people came to witness the team's greatness.
Opposing them are the champions of France, who know Champions League football all too well, winning five successive titles from 2016 to 2020, a record for women's football, and 15 consecutive domestic league titles. Simply put, they are the most successful team in the history of Women's Champions League.
The matchup
There's more history between the two: In the 2019 final in Budapest, Lyon beat Barcelona 4-1, and in the three times in history the two teams have met, OL has won – but neither team that appeared in that final will be the same one taking the pitch on Saturday.
Barcelona had an "Invincibles" campaign of their own this season, never drawing or losing a match and conceding only 11 goals on their way to a perfect season being crowned Spanish champions.
Lyon won every game except one in league play, an unexpected draw to bottom of the table St. Etienne, but otherwise have a 74-8 goal differential and sitting five points clear of reigning D1 Feminin champions Paris Saint-Germain.
Road to the final
Lyon was given a tough road to what may be their eighth Champions League title, playing in a group with Bayern Munich, Benfica and BK Hacken, though they managed to come out of the group on top.
In the quarterfinal leg, Lyon narrowly escaped Juventus, home to Canadian golden penalty kicker Julia Grosso, winning 4-3 on aggregate after dropping the first game to advance to the semifinal. There, they faced rival PSG, but had a more comfortable lead winning both matches.
Meanwhile, Barcelona is coming off a loss in Champions League play after losing 2-0 to Wolfsburg in their last match, though a 5-1 win in the game prior was more than enough to get through on aggregate.
They eased through group play, blanking HB Koge and Hoffenheim, and even dominating English powerhouse Arsenal, who were the only team in group play to manage to score a single goal against Barca. In the semifinal, they handily beat domestic league rivals Real Madrid, 8-3 on aggregate.
Players to watch
Barcelona has many weapons on their women's side, including reigning Ballon d'Or Feminin winner Alexia Putellas, one of the best players in the women's game and leading UWCL scorer, as well as Asisat Oshoala, who leads the Women's Primera Division with 20 goals.
Lyon will rely on 22-year-old Catarina Macario to produce at the net, scoring 10 goals in her last 12 games, while also playing alongside the Women's Champions League all-time goal scorer Ada Hegerberg, who is right behind Macario in goals.
Only one Canadian will be representing in a major final, but defender Kadeisha Buchanan has more than enough experience in winning trophies – the three-time Canadian Women's Player of the Year became the first Canadian to win a Champions League title, in 2017, and has lifted four UWCL trophies with the club.
Aitana Bonmati has been nothing short of phenomenal for Barcelona this season playing alongside Putellas in the midfield, and has the skill and speed to be able to glide through the field, constantly moving and finding ways to attack the net, recording three goals and two assists in Champions League play this season.
Lyon will be looking at Amandine Henry to help them get back on the Champions League winning stage. A defensive midfielder, Henry has veteran experience for Lyon and in France, and has in-game intelligence to create space for herself and her teammates, and has scored two goals in 10 Champions League games, recording 89 per cent passing accuracy.
What is each team playing for?
In literal terms, the two teams are playing for a potential €1.4 million ($1.9 million Canadian) in total, with the losing team still able to take home a payout of around €700,000 ($948,000 Canadian), as the prize money for the Women's Champions League is a culmination of payment for the group stage performance, and receiving more money the further they make it into the competition.
For Barcelona, they not only get to cap off a perfect domestic campaign with another trophy, or defend their 2021 UWCL trophy, but they finally have a chance to beat Lyon on the biggest stage in women's football, in a classic case of new school versus old school.
As for Lyon, they have somewhat of a revenge arc, despite the fact they have a solid track record against Barca. After losing their domestic title to PSG after 15 consecutive titles, Lyon also were knocked out by PSG in the quarterfinal. After making it back to the final after an off year – where they were without Hegerberg – they want to continue their dominance of women's football.
