Preview: Barcelona Women vs Lyon Women - prediction, team news, lineups

The Women's Champions League trophy will be on the line when Barcelona Women take on Lyon Women in Saturday's final at the Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo.

The Blaugrana are bidding to win the UWCL for the fourth time, while the record champions are aiming to become nine-time winners of this prestigious competition. 

Match preview

Barcelona are set to make their sixth consecutive UWCL final appearance after successfully navigating their inaugural league phase and the knockout rounds.

After topping the league phase with 16 points from six games, Barcelona cruised through their quarter-final tie against Clasico rivals Real Madrid via a 12-2 aggregate scoreline before they faced German champions Bayern Munich in the last four.

The Blaugrana had to settle for a 1-1 draw in Munich before they ran out 4-2 winners in the return at the Camp Nou, thanks to an Alexia Putellas brace and efforts from Salma Paralluelo and Ewa Pajor. 

Barcelona followed their second-leg success with two league wins before they claimed a 3-1 victory over Atletico Madrid in last Saturday's Copa de la Reina final in Gran Canaria. 

Claudia Pina, Esmee Brugts and Paralluelo all scored first-half goals as the Catalan giants added the domestic cup to the Liga title and Spanish Super Cup they have already won this season.

Pere Romeu's side are now just one win away from completing a quadruple as they look to put to bed the disappointment of last season's 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in the UWCL final.

The Blaugrana have only won three of their previous UWCL final meetings with Lyon, although that sole victory took place in the most recent encounter between the two sides in 2023-24, when Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas scored in a 2-0 triumph in San Mames.

© Imago / Sports Press Photo

Jonatan Giraldez was in the Barcelona dugout for that memorable day, but two years on from overseeing back-to-back UWCL titles for the Blaugrana, the 34-year-old now has the opportunity to win the competition with two different clubs. 

Giraldez, who took over the reins at OL last summer, has already led the club to glory in the League Cup and French Cup in the quest to achieve a quadruple.

Lyon, who play under the OL Lyonnes name, will have the chance to retain the Premiere Ligue title when they face Paris FC in the playoff final on May 29, but first they will look to win their ninth European crown and their first since 2022. 

The French began their journey to the final with a second-place finish in the league phase, finishing behind Barcelona on goal difference, before going to overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit in their quarter-final clash with Wolfsburg.

After claiming a 4-0 extra-time victory in the second leg, Lyon had to produce another turnaround in their semi-final clash against Arsenal, fighting back from a 2-1 first-leg defeat with a 3-1 win at the Groupama Stadium, where Jule Brand struck in the 86th minute to send her team to Oslo.

While Lyon may have lost 2-0 to Barcelona in the 2023-24 final, they prevailed in the first two finals between the two European heavyweights, running out 4-1 winners in Budapest in 2018-19 and 3-1 victors in Turin in 2021-22.

In fact, the record European champions have won eight of their previous 11 final appearances, scoring at least three goals in regulation time in three of their last four visits to the UWCL's showpiece game. 

Barcelona Women Women's Champions League form:

Barcelona Women form (all competitions):

Lyon Women Women's Champions League form:

Lyon Women form (all competitions):

Team News

© Imago

Barcelona will be unable to call upon Laia Aleixandri, who is currently on the sidelines with a long-term knee injury.

Caroline Graham Hansen could feature in the starting lineup after recovering from a three-game injury absence. 

Three-time Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmati may not be risked from the start, having only recently returned from a lengthy spell on the sidelines. 

Star striker Ewa Pajor will head into the final as the competition’s joint top scorer, having scored nine goals in the UWCL this season.

Meanwhile, Lyon remain without long-term absentee Liana Joseph, who has been out since October with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Kadidiatou Diani has been ruled out of the final after she underwent surgery on the knee injury she sustained in the second leg against Arsenal. 

Teagan Micah and Elma Junttila Nelhage are also unavailable due to injury, while Ines Benyahia is a doubt after being absent from the last five matchday squads. 

Claudio Giraldez could make a few changes to the team that thrashed Nantes last weekend, with Lindsey Heaps, Lily Yohannes and Ada Hegerberg pushing to start on Saturday.

Barcelona Women possible starting lineup:

Coll; Batlle, Paredes, Leon, Brugts; Lopez, Guijarro, Putellas; Graham Hansen, Pina, Pajor

Lyon Women possible starting lineup:

Endler; Lawrence, Renard, Engen, Bacha; Dumornay, Heaps, Yohannes; Becho, Brand, Hegerberg

We say: Barcelona Women 1-2 Lyon Women 

This is a tough one to call because it truly feels like a meeting between Europe's best two sides. If anyone can conjure up a plan to beat Barcelona, it is their former boss, Giraldez, and the level of attacking talent in his ranks should have the cutting edge to exploit the space left behind the Blaugrana defence. 

Taking that into account, we think the French giants will prevail in a close-fought encounter to claim a ninth UWCL trophy. 

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.