FC Barcelona Femeni are UWCL champions of Europe
Spain's juggernaut women's side wrest the European crown from Germany's Wolfsburg, after falling behind two goals in the first half
Ewa Pajor, Wolfsburg, set the tempo early
It took all of three minutes for Polish striker Ewa Pajor to bully the ball off English right-back mainstay Lucy Bronze, then blast it into the net, shifting the tempo for Wolfsburg early.
The Pajor goal recast the early algorithm: Barca would indeed keep the ball but they wouldn’t sit and toy with it, for they’d need to push forward with it, playing aggressively forward for the equalizer… thus giving Wolfsburg the opportunity to be most lethal where they’re most skillful: on the counter.
Pajor’s goal- her 9th in UWCL this season- earned her the golden boot, and sketched the theme of Wolfsburg’s “dominant” early entry. That dominance deserves a qualifier. Wolfsburg dominated ye olde press and counter and punished their brief chances, but as ever in this elusive game, Barcelona dominated near everything else save the scoreline:
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