Rivalry resumed! Barcelona beat Bayern Munich to set up fourth Women's Champions League final meeting with Lyon as Alexia Putellas stars & Aitana Bonmati returns in semi-final thriller

Barcelona will face Lyon in the Women's Champions League final after beating Bayern Munich 4-2 on Sunday, for a 5-3 win on aggregate in the semi-finals. The German champions gave the three-time winners a tough match last week but the Catalans asserted their authority at Camp Nou, as goals from Salma Paralluelo, Ewa Pajor and an Alexia Putellas brace set up a fourth UWCL final between Barca and Lyon.

• Barca topple Bayern in six-goal semi-final thriller

  After a tightly-contested 1-1 draw in Munich, the second leg of this semi-final was perfectly poised, and a sold-out Camp Nou was a fitting venue for the thrilling match that played out. It started fast, too, with Salma Paralluelo breaking the deadlock, Linda Dallmann equalising at the other end and Alexia Putellas restoring Barca's lead all inside the first 22 minutes.

  From there, Barca stamped their authority on the game a little more to go into what looked like a tie-killing 4-1 lead on the day, for a 5-2 advantage on aggregate, thanks to efforts from Ewa Pajor and another from Putellas. But suddenly the game became incredibly open, which suited Bayern to a tee.

  Pernille Harder pulled another back for the visitors with 20 minutes to play, before Arianna Caruso saw an effort tipped onto the bar by Cata Coll and Dallmann followed her in striking the woodwork, with Coll also denying Vanessa Gilles from close range. With the returning Aitana Bonmati missing a great chance at the other end, Harder really thought she'd set up a grandstand finish with a goal in the 90th minute. However, VAR instructed referee Stephanie Frappart to head to the monitor to check a potential foul in the build-up, which would eventually, and controversially, rule the effort out and restore the scoreline to 5-3 on aggregate, rather than 5-4.

  From there, Barca were able to see the win out for a 4-2 victory on the day, one that puts them into a sixth consecutive Women's Champions League final, where they will bid for a fourth European crown.

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  Ballon d'Or race heats up

  This was a game that will have major implications on the race for the Ballon d'Or, too, not just the battle to be champions of Europe. Bonmati's run of three successive Golden Balls is set to come to an end this year, after a broken leg forced her to endure a five-month injury lay-off that only ended in this semi-final second leg, in which she made her return off the bench. Waiting in the wings to clinch the 2026 edition are many star names, plenty of whom play for Barca. Many of them turned up in this huge game to bolster their hopes, too.

  Putellas, the front-runner for many, will grab headlines for her two-goal display, taking her tally in the UWCL this season up to eight in 10 games, on top of six assists. But Pajor was fantastic again, notching her ninth effort in nine European outings, with Caroline Graham Hansen also excellent on the right. Bayern were without Franziska Kett for this second leg, the talented young left-back who impressed plenty with a goal-scoring performance in the first leg, before being sent off. Her replacement was Stine Ballisager, the Denmark international who is naturally a centre-back, and Graham Hansen took full advantage of her lack of comfort in the wider role, producing two assists.

  In a Ballon d'Or sense, this game is likely to boost Harder's ranking in the voting, too, as she continued her fine season with another goal and another assist. However, Bayern's elimination will hurt her chances of getting her hands on an accolade that, if awarded in 2020, many believe she would already have in her trophy cabinet.

• Rivalry resumed: Barca to meet Lyon again

  Barcelona will now meet Lyon in the Champions League final later this month, to be played in Oslo, Norway, after the French giants defeated Arsenal in their semi-final. It will be the fourth UWCL final contested between the two giants, who have bene forming something of a rivalry on the European stage in recent years.

  In the first of those four clashes in the showpiece event, Barca were nothing like the power they are today. In their first UWCL final, and up against the dominant force in European women's football, they were overpowered in a 4-1 victory for Lyon, who were in the middle of five successive UWCL crowns.

  OL successfully staved off the challenge of the Catalans again in 2022, a year after Barca had won their first title in this competition with a dominant 4-0 defeat of Chelsea. It was a highly-anticipated clash in Turin but Lyon sucked the competitiveness out of the match incredibly quickly, racing into a 3-0 lead after just 33 minutes in an eventual 3-1 victory.

  Barca got their revenge in 2024, though, beating OL 2-0 in Eindhoven. There, a year on from victory over Wolfsburg to win the 2023 final, the Spanish champions looked much more mature and experienced at the highest level, putting on a brilliantly controlled performance to finally get one over Lyon.

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  Who will win the 2026 Women's Champions League?

  What will the fourth installment of this fantastic series bring? Barca will hope for a much less eventful outing than this one at Camp Nou, where their control of the game slipped in the latter stages. The Catalans should have Bonmati available as a starter by then, though, which will certainly help in that regard. The three-time Ballon d'Or winner got a good 25 minutes or so from the bench on Sunday and will be able to build her fitness up further between now and the final on May 23, with Barca having two league games and the Copa de la Reina final before then.

  Lyon, meanwhile, looked excellent as they exacted their revenge over Arsenal on Saturday, after the Gunners had beaten them in the semi-finals of last season's Champions League, which ended with the English side stunning Barca in the final. Melchie Dumornay's return from injury was a big reason why OL were able to win 3-1, to overturn a 2-1 defeat in the first leg in north London, as was the fact that Selma Bacha was available again. If Lyon can have Tabitha Chawinga back to fitness too, that would be a real boost. The flying winger missed both legs of the semi-final.

  Adding a further wrinkle to the final is that OL are now coached by Jonatan Giraldez, the ex-Barcelona boss who guided the Catalans to two European titles in his three seasons as head coach. He'll be out to down his former employers later this month and his former assistant, Pere Romeu, who now leads this Barca side.