'Traumatic' defeat could motivate Barca to win Champions League: Putellas

The two-time Ballon d'Or winner is fit to start after recovering from a long-term knee injury, with coach Jonatan Giraldez saying she could play the whole game if required. Barcelona, who won the competition for the first time in 2021, lost last season's final against record eight-time winners Lyon in Turin.

"You always have to manage (the pressure), when you put on this shirt, you know what it means - you have to reach perfection," Putellas told a news conference in Eindhoven on Friday. "We're affected a lot by the Turin game, with all the fans that went. We had the worst match of the season, we feel like we owe them a Champions League."

She continued: "It was traumatic, we worked hard to win the final and it couldn't be. Now, however, it's more motivation to go out there and bring the cup back to Barcelona."

Spanish playmaker Putellas was sidelined with a knee injury for most of the season, which she sustained last summer ahead of the women's European Championship, and is yet to start a match since. She scored her first goal of the season on her fifth substitute appearance, on the last day of Barcelona's triumphant league campaign.

"Alexia is ready to play like all of them, 90 minutes, or 120 minutes, she is totally available," Barcelona coach Giraldez said. The coach said he had decided his starting line-up for the clash with two-time winners Wolfsburg, but would not reveal it.

One of the positions in the team which has been less settled this season is the central striker spot in the middle of an attacking front three. Asisat Oshoala and Geyse Ferreira are vying for the position, while Giraldez also said Putellas could be used there as a false nine.

"It's an option -- the other day we did a test and we think she could give us something extra inside the area," he explained. "In the final third she makes the difference." 

Barcelona have now reached four of the last five Champions League finals, beating Chelsea in the semi-final to book their ticket to Eindhoven.

Explosive winger Caroline Graham Hansen, who scored in both legs of the win over the Blues, played for Wolfsburg between 2014 and 2019, losing two Champions League finals against Lyon with the German side.

"For me it's special, I was there for five years," she told a news conference. "The only thing I want is to win tomorrow. They are a great team, with a lot of quality."

 

June 2, 2023