Barcelona vs Wolfsburg – Women’s Champions League final

The national team is coming off a gold-medal victory in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics and is now pushing for World Cup glory under the leadership of captain Christine Sinclair, international football’s all-time leading scorer for both men and women.

Yet Sinclair and her teammates’ on-field successes have taken a backseat to another fight being waged off the pitch as they demand pay equity and greater support from Canada Soccer, the body that governs football in the country.

Wolfsburg’s Ewa Pajor is the top scorer in the competition, having netted eight times so far.

For the 26-year-old Polish forward, a win would be a decade-long dream come true. In 2013, as a young player at Polish side Medyk Konin, she received a signed ball from the Champions League winners for being player of the match in the Polish Cup final.

“It’s at home, it’s on a shelf and every time I come home, I look at it and of course I dream of winning the Champions League together with Wolfsburg, too. Now, if we won, it would be something amazing because it’s exactly 10 years later,” she said.

Putellas on the bench?

Barcelona’s star midfielder Alexia Putellas is back from a lengthy anterior cruciate ligament injury, but the two-time Ballon d’Or winner has yet to start a game since her return at the end of April.

She came off the bench in each of the last six Spanish league games and scored in Barcelona’s league season finale.

The Spanish champions should also have defender Lucy Bronze and forward Fridolina Rolfo available after both missed time with knee problems.

The home ground to the Dutch side PSV, Philips Stadion or PSV Stadion is located in the heart of Eindhoven.

First opened more than a century ago, the stadium now has a capacity of close to 35,000.

The venue has a long history of staging major matches, including the UEFA Cup finals of 1978 and 2006, the second leg of the 1988 UEFA Super Cup and three games at the Euros in 2000.

With no tickets left, there should be a vibrant atmosphere today as both teams have picked up an allocation of more than 4,500 for their own fans.

The sold-out clash is expected to set a record for a women’s game in the Netherlands, which stands at 30,640 in the same venue in 2019 when the national team hosted Australia.

Thank you for joining us as we build up to our coverage of the highly anticipated showdown between Barcelona and Wolfsburg.

This is the third final in a row for attack-minded Barcelona and their fourth in the past five years. The Catalan club beat Chelsea 4-0 in 2021 to become the first team from Spain to win the title. In last year’s final, they lost to Lyon 3-1.

Wolfsburg, meanwhile, will play in their sixth final in little more than a decade. The spirited German side have won the competition twice, in 2013 and 2014, and finished as runners-up in 2016, 2018 and 2020.

Stay with us!

-al jazeera