One of the factors which has made Barcelona’s women’s team so successful in recent years is their hunger for silverware, knotted with their technical quality and renowned passing game.
So it was no surprise that despite the tears and devastation of their Champions League final defeat by Arsenal on Saturday, they immediately started plotting a course back to next year’s final, in Oslo.
The golden confetti ballooning into the air is so often for them. “Tomorrow we’ll get back up and start trying again for next year,” pledged one of the team’s leaders, Alexia Putellas.
Coach Pere Romeu insisted that desire to win was “in the DNA” of the players and the club.
To reclaim their crown the first step is analysing what went wrong, not just on a sizzling afternoon in Lisbon, but also during the season, even though Barca won Liga F for the sixth year running. The Catalans fell to a first ever defeat by rivals Real Madrid, one of two losses in the league after going the whole of the previous season unbeaten.
Despite admitting the need for “self-criticism”, coach Pere Romeu seemed reluctant to do that, at least in the immediate denouement of the Lisbon final, as 15,000 Barca fans trudged out disappointed.
“There are some things we didn’t do well, (but) this doesn’t undo the work of a season,” he said after the surprise defeat at the Jose Alvalade stadium. “This was not a good game but we have another trophy to go for, (the Copa de la Reina), which we’re really excited about.”
However Barcelona’s success is not measured by the Spanish cup, instead by the small handful of matches in the final stages of the Champions League, where they battle Europe’s best sides and can truly test their level.
This year they came up short in the final, with Arsenal better organised, calmer, and executing their gameplan to perfection. After Stina Blackstenius broke the deadlock with a quarter-of-an-hour remaining, Barca had no response.
Romeu’s substitution of Champions League top goalscorer Claudia Pina was a strange choice, with the forward provoking their only clear chance with a deflected shot which hit the crossbar.
The coach’s selection of the experienced Fridolina Rolfo, 31, ahead of up-and-coming Esmee Brugts, 21, at left-back also did not work out.
Barcelona need to give their youngsters wings.
Although a two-time Ballon d’Or winner, veteran Putellas, 31, was ineffective against Arsenal and 18-year-old Vicky Lopez might have had the invention and speed to find a way through instead. On the right wing Caroline Graham Hansen was far from her best and at 30, for a winger, is perhaps approaching the end of her peak years.
Versatile defender Laia Aleixandri, 24, is set to arrive on a free transfer from Manchester City this summer, and the 24-year-old should strengthen the sagging core of Barca’s defence. Neither Mapi Leon, 29, nor captain Irene Paredes, 33, who scored an own goal in the final, which was ruled out for an offside, has been close to their best this season.
Swiss midfielder Sydney Schertenleib, 18, has also shown plenty of promise.