Canada’s Kadeisha Buchanan claims fifth Women’s Champions League title as Lyon defeat Barcelona | CBC Sports

Canadian Kadeisha Buchanan claimed her fifth Women’s Champions League title in six years as Olympique Lyonnais beat defending champion and favorite FC Barcelona 3-1 in the final on Saturday in Turin, Italy.

The central defender from Brampton, Ontario replaced Ellie Carpenter in the 14th minute to help Lyon win a record eighth Champions League trophy.

The French team was up 3-0 after just 33 minutes and cruised home.

“We felt the strength of the whole team, I think everyone was 200 per cent motivated,” said player of the match Amandine Henry, who scored an impressive opening goal.

“We had said from the beginning of the season that we wanted to get this trophy back. So we really wanted to make our mark on the pitch. And I think we did it more through mental strength than physical strength.”

The final had it all: a goal-of-the-season contender early on, and an effort that would have given him strong competition had he gone in instead of hitting the woodwork, and a goal from the league’s all-time top scorer. in his comeback season.

Resolute defense saw Lyon cruise to victory as coach Sonia Bompastor became the first woman to win the competition both as a coach and as a player.

“The feelings,” Bompastor said, “are the same in terms of intensity, as a coach or as a player. Because you know all the work that has been done on this, all that has been done for us to achieve this goal.”

She helped Lyon to their first two Champions League titles late in her playing career.

“The only difference between playing and coaching is experience. It was eight years ago and I’m a little bit older, a little bit wiser. What made me happy about tonight’s win is that we were able to show exactly what this team is made of.” of, individually and collectively”.

Lyon have won eight of the last 12 Women’s Champions Leagues. Captain Wendie Renard, Sarah Bouhaddi and Eugenie Le Sommer have been part of all of those successes.

But Barcelona reached the final as favorites in Turin after one loss all season, and none domestically. However, that could have been his undoing.

“I don’t want to make excuses. Our opponent played an incredible game and deserved to win,” Barcelona coach Jonatan Giraldez said.

Giraldez’s side was also backed by a vociferous crowd. More than 35,000 tickets were sold for the final and the small group of Lyon fans, waving Norwegian flags for their star striker, were vastly outnumbered by their Barcelona counterparts.

“It felt like we were playing in our own stadium, the noise they were making was unbelievable. That’s why I feel so sad,” she added.

A fantastic solo effort got Lyon rolling in the sixth minute. Henry slid into a tackle and quickly got up to pick up the ball, cut inside and blasted a 30-yard shot into the top right corner.

Hegerberg scores record-extending goal

Just as Barcelona seemed to be in command, Lyon scored again after Selma Bacha worked her way down the left flank and crossed for an unmarked Ada Hegerberg to head in goal number 59 in 60 league games. .

It was a fitting way for Hegerberg to cap his comeback season. The Norwegian returned in October after almost two years sidelined by injuries.

The Barcelona defense made a mess of clearing the ball in their own box and Hegerberg passed it to Catarina Macario for the easier shot.

Just before the break, Barcelona captain and Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas put them on the board to rekindle hope.

Patricia Guijarro almost scored a spectacular goal in the 58th when she saw Lyon goalkeeper Christiane Endler off her line, but Lyon’s bold shot from inside the middle went over the crossbar.

The post was also hit by Hegerberg deep in stoppage time.