Perennial Rivals Wolfsburg And Lyon Meet Again In Women’s Champions League Final

On Sunday, the eternal rivals of women’s European soccer, VfL Wolfsburg and Olympique Lyonnais, will clash once more in the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final. Both sides have already won their domestic league and Cup titles, neither side has lost a single match this season, something has got to give in San Sebastián.

Remarkably it will be the fifth successive season in which the two teams have met in the competition and after competing for the trophy in 2013, 2016 and 2018, they will play each other in the final for the fourth time. Wolfsburg won their first encounter seven years ago but since then Lyon have emerged victorious on every occasion.

On Tuesday, Swedish forward Fridolina Rölfo scored the goal which took German champions, VfL Wolfsburg into their fifth Champions League final with victory over FC Barcelona. During a match in which the Spanish champions dominated possession, Rölfo stabbed home the only goal of the game against the run of general play. “Yeah, I would say that it was one of the most important ones (of my career)” she says. “I just felt happiness and it was also great that we could get the result we wanted”.

Many observers felt that last year’s finalists Barcelona were unfortunate to lose. Rölfo admits that for Wolfsburg, the game did not go to plan. “We were hoping to have the ball a little bit more but we knew we were playing against a really good team. To be honest, I though Barcelona played really well but, football is not always about keeping the ball. We showed that we could also create chances even if we didn’t have the ball that much”.

In Sunday’s final, Wolfsburg will face defending champions Olympique Lyonnais who also won their semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain courtesy of a single second-half goal. Lyon, who have won a record six titles including the last four in succession, go into the game seeking to emulate the record of Real Madrid’s legendary men’s side of the 1950s by winning five European Cups in succession.

So how to stop a team unbeaten in 24 Champions League ties and undefeated outside of France for seven years since Wolfsburg themselves beat them in the 2013 Final. “That’s a good question!” says Rölfo. “We will see what our plan is. I hope that we can bring our hard-working mentality with us and win a lot of duels and also have the ball more than in our last game. I hope we have the possibility to win against them and also be effective like we’ve been this season. We’ve been scoring a lot of goals so we need to bring that confidence with us to score goals but still be strong defensively”.

The ten-day final tournament has been played in the neighboring Basque cities of Bilbao and San Sebastián. Even though the eight teams have been in close proximity to each other, the players have been operating in designated bubbles, shuttled between hotels, training grounds and stadiums as Rölfo explained, “we are not allowed to see the other players so at the moment we are enjoying each other’s company here. It’s great so far”.

Three of the eight teams have registered players with positive tests for COVID-19, Rölfo admits that travelling to a country that continues to have worrying rates of infection has been a concern. “Of course you are thinking about it when you are going abroad, especially to Spain when there was a risk here, but I think everything here has been really well organised and we’ve been tested before every game so I’m feeling calm that everything is working well”.

Wolfsburg have played both their games in the Anoeta, the venue for the final while Lyon have come through two matches 77km away in Bilbao. However, Rölfo does not think that familiarity with the stadium will offer the German team any advantage on Sunday. “No, I don’t think so. Both teams are really good. It’s not that big of a difference. It will be the same for us as it would for Lyon playing in San Sebastián”.

England’s dynamic right back Lucy Bronze has already revealed she will be leaving Lyon after Sunday’s game. If she wins the Champions League again, Bronze will become the first footballer from her country to win three successive European Cups. The left-footed Rölfo will play directly against her and recalls encountering Bronze during international matches. “We’ve had a few games against each other. She’s absolutely a great player but I’m looking forward to play against her and her team”.

Wolfsburg’s star player is their protean Danish forward Pernille Harder, scorer of nine goals in this season’s competition, including four in last Friday’s quarter-final win over Glasgow City. Rölfo, who joined Wolfsburg from Bayern Munich, now trains alongside Harder after playing against her for three seasons. “She’s absolutely a class player. You can see that she’s a player that always wants the ball and she has this mentality that she always wants to win. The combination of having really good qualities together with her mentality makes her one of the best in the world”.

Interest in the women’s Champions League has risen exponentially in recent years so it is regrettable that current social-distancing regulations mean the 36,730-capacity Anoeta will have its doors closed to fans for the final. Rölfo, who first played in the competition for Linköping in 2014 is glad that the growing demand for the sport means that the match will be shown live around the world. “It’s such a big difference if you compare with how it was then. I can see now how media broadcasters are interested in showing the game and you can read a lot about it. Even if we do not have spectators in the stadium it still feels like we have them here. At least people can watch the game and I’m happy about that”.

For the loyal fans who cannot be there in person, Rölfo had this message “we’re thinking of them, we are happy to have such great support from home for which we are thankful. Even if they are not there, they are still in our heart and it means a lot that they are supporting us”.