My suffering worth it for Champions League victory: Putellas

The two-time Ballon d'Or winner came on as a substitute as her side beat Wolfsburg 3-2 in Eindhoven, after falling two goals behind. Playmaker Putellas, who won the competition with Barcelona in 2021 in their maiden victory, has missed most of the season with a knee issue.

"I'm happy, it's been a tough year but all the suffering I've been through has been worth it for this moment. It tastes so good, objective complete. This year we had in mind that we wanted to win it, for how last year ended," she told 'DAZN'.

Barcelona were beaten 3-1 by record eight-time winners Lyon last season, and the French side hit three first-half goals against the shell-shocked Catalans.

Ewa Pajor struck in the third minute this year, with Alexandra Popp doubling the lead before the break. Barcelona came back with Patri Guijarro's brace and Fridolina Rolfo fired home the winner.

"Alexia gave me her energy and I did a bit of what she does. It's incredible (to win), above all for how we did it, coming from two down in a final is so difficult," said Guijarro, player of the match.

England defender Lucy Bronze said she had no doubts her team would be able to fire their way back to victory. "I don't think we were ever worried about scoring three goals, which is a crazy feat to do, and that's the talent of this team," Bronze told 'DAZN'. 

The right-back last played in April and had surgery on a knee injury, and was caught out for Pajor's opener, harried into losing the ball by Poland attacker Pajor.

"We made it hard for ourselves in the first half. (Although) we created so many chances I think we could have scored many goals in the first half. We knew with our quality we could come back into any game," admitted Bronze.

 

June 3, 2023