OSLO: Andy SCOTT Ewa Pajor and Salma Paralluelo scored twice each in the second half as Barcelona thrashed a stunned Lyon 4-0 in the Women's Champions League final on Saturday to win the European title for the fourth time.
It took until the 55th minute for the deadlock to be broken by Pajor, but Barcelona ran away with the game after that at the Ullevaal Stadion in the Norwegian capital.
Polish striker Pajor put the pain of five previous final defeats behind her as she also scored her team's second goal on 69 minutes, leaving Lyon with too much to do.
Pajor was on the losing side in four Champions League finals with previous club Wolfsburg before joining Barcelona in 2024 and playing in their 1-0 loss to Arsenal in Lisbon last season.
Spain World Cup winner Paralluelo then added two late goals as Lyon fell apart, exposing a gulf between the two outstanding club sides in women's football over the last decade.
The victory, and manner of it, confirmed that Barcelona have overtaken Lyon as the dominant force in recent years, as they won their fourth title in the last six seasons — only Lyon, with eight, have won more overall.
Barcelona's European triumph follows a clean sweep of the Spanish domestic honours, and the Catalans brought reigning Ballon d'Or Aitana Bonmati on as a second-half substitute here following her recent return from a broken leg.
"Finishing the season like this, it's amazing," Bonmati said.
"I'm so happy because it has been a tough one for me, different for me. I have learned a lot also, but ending the season and having the opportunity to play a little bit and helping the team, for me, I'm so happy."
This was a sixth straight Champions League final appearance for Barcelona, and their seventh in the last eight seasons.
They had already beaten Lyon 2-0 in the 2024 final, when Bonmati and Alexia Putellas scored their goals the latter wore the captain's armband here in what could turn out to be her farewell appearance with her contract up.
This was the fourth meeting of the clubs in the final, with Lyon coming out on top in 2019 during their run of five consecutive titles, and also winning in 2022 but that is now the only time they have lifted the trophy in the last six editions.
"We really wanted to have the first goal of the game. We didn't get that, and in the second half, they are so dangerous in the transitions, so when they get the first goal it makes it difficult, because the dynamic changes," said Ingrid Enge, Lyon's Norwegian ex-Barcelona defender.
Ada Hegerberg scored a hat-trick in the 2019 final and was also on target three years later, but the competition's all-time leading scorer looked a shadow of her former self on this occasion, which was a homecoming for the Norwegian former Ballon d'Or winner. —AFP
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