Barcelona overturned a 2-0 deficit to beat Wolfsburg 3-2 and win their second Women’s Champions League title on Saturday, June 3. Wolfsburg took the lead after just 2 minutes and 57 seconds thanks to a stunning strike from Ewa Pajor. The Polish international won the ball on the edge of the box before unleashing a terrific effort which Sandra Panos couldn’t keep out. 
Barcelona players celebrating a goal. Source: Getty Barcelona missed a glorious chance to make it 1-1 after 13 minutes when Irene Paredes popped up at the back post to fire a free header wide of the target. The Spanish side continued to push forward and had Wolfsburg’s defence on the back foot for large periods in the first half. But Wolfsburg made it 2-0 eight minutes before halftime. Goalscorer Pajor turned provider for the second when she whipped in a sensational ball into the box and Alexandra Popp was on hand to fire her header past Panos to put Wolfsburg in dreamland. Barcelona came out of the blocks quickly in the second half and pulled a goal back after just three minutes. Caroline Graham Hansen got past her marker brilliantly before laying the ball off to Patricia Guijarro who rifled her effort beyond Merle Frohms.
Barcelona players celebrate their title win. Source: Getty The Catalan side scored their equalizer just two minutes later, Aitana Bonmati chopped inside before finding Guijarro who was there to score her second the afternoon. Barcelona completed their comeback in the 70th minute after capitalizing on some poor defending from their German opponents. Wolfsburg struggled to get the ball clear resulting in a moment of pinball in the box and Fridolina Rolfo was there to fire her effort into the top corner. It’s the second Women’s Champions League title for Barcelona after four appearances in the Champions League final. Wolfsburg are still on the hunt for their first UWCL title since 2014. 
Alexia Putellas lifts the trophy in front of Barcelona fans in Eindhoven. Source: Getty Nigeria’s Super Falcon star, Asisat Oshoala was unable to feature for Barcelona in the final after suffering a hamstring injury. The 28-year-old Nigerian has been in fine form this season, scoring 26 times in all competitions, including five in the Champions League. Barca confirmed the news ahead of the game, with the striker injuring her left thigh. 
Asisat Oshoala during a match for Barcelona. Source: Getty The Champions League final concludes the season for both clubs, with many of the stars on show in this game now turning their attention to the 2023 Women’s World Cup. The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup is less than 50 days out. Several players across both finalists will represent their national teams when the group stages kick off. The World Cup will begin on July 20 when co-hosts New Zealand face Norway and Australia welcome Ireland.
Manchester United players celebrating. Source: Getty Chelsea who named their youngest-ever average starting XI in Premier League history, had some big moments in the first half but the profligacy that has blighted their season was evident once more with Mykhailo Mudryk, Kai Havertz and Conor Gallagher the main culprits. Casemiro also helped set up another for Anthony Martial and spurred United on to a memorable thrashing which was completed by a Bruno Fernandes penalty and a late strike from Marcus Rashford, his 30th goal of the season. Joao Felix ruined David De Gea’s clean sheet with a low drive in the 89th minute. 
Fernandes and Enzo at a match in Old Trafford. Source: Getty The result sees the Red Devils move up to third spot, two points ahead of Newcastle United in fourth. It also effectively ends fifth-placed Liverpool’s slim hope of gate-crashing the top four. Chelsea are 12th on the Premier League table and they’ve set a new club record with a 16th defeat in a 38-game Premier League season to compound finishing in the bottom half of the top-flight for the first time in 27 years. Manchester United will end the league season at home to Fulham on Sunday afternoon while Chelsea hosts Newcastle United. 
Roberto Firmino made it a fairytale farewell at Anfield as he scored a late Liverpool equaliser against Aston Villa. The Brazilian attacker marked his final appearance in front of the Kop by stabbing home Mohamed Salah’s cross on his 361st outing for the Reds. Firmino’s leveller came after 90 minutes. 
A defeat for Liverpool would have ended their Champions League hopes for next season, but Roberto Firmino’s 90th-minute equalizer helped keep the Reds’ top four hopes alive. For now. Liverpool are 10 games unbeaten going into their final game of the season at Southampton. They remain in fifth place and have 66 points, three points behind both Manchester United and Newcastle, who both have a game in hand and need just a point in midweek to secure their spot in the top four and qualify for the Champions League. If that happens, Liverpool will not be able to qualify for the Champions League. 
Realistically, with next to no chance of finishing in the top four this campaign, the Blues will not be in Europe’s premier club competition next season and have little to play for other than pride in the final weeks of 2022-23. That is a sensationally poor return on the £600 million that the Blues have spent under Todd Boehly’s stewardship in the past 12 months, and massive changes need to be made to fix a team who were celebrating winning the European Cup less than two years ago. 
The Blues defeated Manchester City to win the Champions League in 2021, few months after Tuchel was appointed as manager of the team. Cancelo who was one of the regular starters at Manchester City at the time, is now hoping to create more positive memories in 2023 with his new boss. 
The Bayern Munich star who spoke to Sport TV after helping Portugal get a 4-0 victory over Liechtenstein in their opening game of Euro 2024 qualification, said; “I’ve only found out now. I know I won’t find Nagelsmann when I return to Munich. He wanted me at Bayern, I’d like to thank him. As for Tuchel, he made me lose a Champions League final, so I hope he will win it for me this year!” 
Aubameyang’s name was omitted from the list of players for Chelsea’s Champions League last-16 tie against Borussia Dortmund. Three new signings for the club were added to the new list. This has led to speculation of a rift between him and Potter. Addressing reporters after the Premier League match against Fulham which ended 0-0, Potter stated that Aubameyang did nothing wrong. The Chelsea coach said; 
“I don’t think it’s going to be difficult because Pierre is a professional. He was the one that missed out, he’s done nothing wrong at all. We wanted to give David some time today. Whichever decision there was always going to be a debate. It was my decision, a tough decision. “Nothing bad against him I understand his disappointment but I’ve got a responsibility to make these decisions and articulate them to the player. He handled it well and trained well today… Yes [he can fit in the system], everything is up for grabs and needs to train like today. Everything is up for grabs.” Aubameyang has scored just three times in the 17 appearances he has made for the Blues since his arrival from Barcelona in September. 
Following the unveiling of Mykhailo Mudryk by Chelsea on Sunday, January 15, the club will now have to remove a player from their Champions League squad to register some of their new players. 
Recall that Mudryk arrived yesterday as Chelsea’s 5th signing in the January transfer window. David Datro Fofana, Andrey Santos, Benoit Badiashile and Joao Felix had all agreed to a deal with the club this month. Chelsea now has more non-homegrown players than are permitted for a Champions League squad. Only 17 non-homegrown players can be registered, while Chelsea now has 18 on their books according to Daily Mail. 
Should the club’s coach, Graham Potter wish to include his new signings for their round of 16 first-leg showdown with Borussia Dortmund on February 15, he’ll have to remove a player who helped Chelsea top Group E late last year. Some of the players that can easily be omitted are Christian Pulisic, N’Golo Kante, and Denis Zakaria who are all nursing injuries. 
