Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas insisted that they would not be self -evident in the Women's Champions League final of Barcelona against Arsenal on Saturday.
Barcelona will face the Gunners in Estadio Jose Alvalade in the hope of retaining their European crown and to win the tournament for the fourth time in the last five years.
This will be the sixth performance of Blaugrana in the Champions League final, and fifth in a row, with only Lyon (11) that appears in more.
Barca defeated Wolfsburg and Lyon in 2023 and 2024 respectively, and could only be the second team that the competition won three seasons in a row after Lyon.
And they are confronted with an Arsenal side that appears in their first Champions League final since 2006-07, when they won the tournament under Vic Akers.
But the experience is on the side of Barca, where players in their team have made 48 collective performances in the final, while Arsenal only has Mariona Caldentey in their ranks, who experienced the pressure of the showpiece competition with the Blaugrana.
And that has made Pere Romeu's the favorites on their way to the game, with 56.5% of the Opta simulations led by OPTA won. In the meantime, Arsenal gets a chance of winning of 21.7%.
Putellas, however, acknowledged the difficulty that her team encounters and said: “A final is unpredictable. There may be things that you can't control.
“We know we can do it. It's true that Arsenal is a great team and that they are in the final for a reason.”
DEMS EL GRAN DIA. Força barça pic.twitter.com/wjokndt40p
– FC Barcelona Femenà (@fcbfemeni) 23 May 2025
Bolmati, who has created the most opportunities (29) and this season gave most assists (five) in the Champions League, repeated her teammates.
The double balloon d'Or winner also added that Barca's experience with playing in the earlier final was invaluable before it was confronted with Arsenal.
“I have learned a lot of things. It is the path that fell for us. The first final in Budapest was an inexperienced team that would see what happened,” she said.
“Now we are the team to beat,” she said. “Knowing how to be, knowing how to suffer is very important. And never give up. We have had finals where we have come back. We have had games of all colors.”
This will be the fifth meeting between Arsenal and Barca in the Champions League, where the Gunners win both legs of a round of 32 draw in 2012-13.
But Barca won both group stage matches in 2021-22, although Arsenal has a good record against the Spanish opposition in the competition and progressed with all four of their knockout podium tires against such teams.
The Blaugrana, however, have proven time and time again why they are the team to beat, with a crushing 8-2 victory over the Super League champions Chelsea for ladies in the semi-final of the competition.
They first rank in all important attacking areas in the competition this season, on average most of the goals (4.4), Schoten (23.1), shots on goal (9.9) and expected goals (XG) per match (2.9), as well as the best conversion rate (19.1%).
“Everything leads to you what you are now,” Putellas added. “In that first game of this competition it was unthinkable what would come.
“It's thanks to the work. I feel privileged that I was able to live this entire journey.”
3 – Alexia Putellas from Barcelona has scored in three of her five @UWCl -Laatste performances (2021, 2022 and 2024), with only Ada Hegerberg (2016, 2018, 2019, 2022) and Alexandra Popp (2014, 2020, 2020, 2013) score a last goal in more different editions.
– Optajoe (@Optajoe) May 23, 2025
Barcelona boss Romeu could be the 11th manager who won the Champions League in their debut campaign and the first since Sonia Bompastor at Lyon in 2021-22.
Three of the last four winning managers have also been Spaniards, with Lluis Cortes in 2021 and Jonatan Giraldez in 2023 and 2024 who also do this with Barca.
Romeu is also looking for his 10th victory in his 11th Champions League match as a manager. Only Jean-Luc Vasseur (won first 10) has reached that brand in fewer competitions.
However, the Barca Baas was also careful in front of the leers of the threat, which the Gunners described as a “brave team” that are strong in the box.
“We will have to show our best version,” he said. “We know the kind of game that we want to play. We are a team with records, with control at different times.
“We will try to exploit the space they leave.”