In their fourth Champions League final in five years, Barcelona used their experience to write a new chapter in their history, leaning on the lessons of the past to banish any final demons and come from two goals down to beat VfL Wolfsburg 3-2 on Saturday. It was a win that started with a loss five years previous, though.
Humbling. That’s the easiest way of describing Barcelona’s first Champions League final, the relatively inexperienced team had done well to reach Europe’s showpiece event in 2019, but when it came to facing the unrelenting might of Lyon, the Catalans looked little more than the proverbial girls struggling against the full strength of their French elders.
It was a loss that stung those involved deeply. However, it provided a priceless learning experience for Barca, and when they took to the pitch for their second Champions League final — against Chelsea — in 2021, the Spanish champions had graduated from girls to women, and it was they who handed out the humbling in Goteborg.
Their next appearance in a final, the next year, saw them given the favourites tag, the team from Catalonia regarded as the dominant, awe-inspiring…
