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Despite losing Asisat Oshoala to injury ahead of the final, Barcelona fought from two goals down to beat Wolfsburg to the 2022/23 UWCL title
An injury kept Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala from playing, but Barcelona still managed to claim their second UEFA Women’s Champions League title after fighting back from 2-0 down to beat Wolfsburg 3-2.
Wolfsburg took a shock 2-0 lead after Ewa Pajor and Alexandra Popp scored to give the Germans a first-half advantage.
Wolfsburg took a shock 2-0 lead after Ewa Pajor and Alexandra Popp scored to give the Germans a first-half advantage.
However, two goals in the second half from Patricia Guijarro and a winner from Fredolina Rolfo sealed an epic comeback for the Spanish champions.
How it happened
Barcelona came into the final as favourites, but it was Wolfsburg who took the lead as Polish winger Pajor took advantage of a mistake by Barcelona defender Lucy Bronze to rifle home a brilliant shot from just outside the box to put the Germans ahead after only three minutes.
Despite the early setback, Barcelona continued to dominate the game and came close to an equaliser on a number of occasions.
Their best chance to draw level came when forward Caroline Graham Hansen fired wide from point-blank range an effort that should have been an easy tap-in.
Sarah Paralluelo, Lucy Bronze, and Aitana Bonmati also missed clear chances to bring Barcelona level and just minutes after Bonmati had an effort blocked by the last defender, Wolfsburg doubled their lead to put Barcelona’s chances in grave danger.
Going into the break, Barcelona were 2-0 down after throwing away the best chances of the day, but they made amends in the second half, with a ruthless performance that blew Wolfsburg away.
After the restart, it was the Blaugrana’s turn to score an early goal as Guijarro scored after only three minutes of the second half to give them hope of a comeback.
She was on-hand to score the equaliser only two minutes after her first goal to as she ghosted into the box to score a superb header to make it 2-2.
Barcelona put Wolfsburg under further pressure, and with 20 minutes of normal time to go wing-back Fredolina Rolfo popped up in the box to score after a mix-up in the Wolfsburg defence presented the best chance of the game.
Wolfsburg were forced to come out of their defensive shell after the third goal and almost scored in the final moments of the game, but it was not to be for them as Barcelona held on to become Champions of Europe for the second time in the club’s history.
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