In Frankfurt, the press warmed up for the match by recalling the heroic feat of the men’s team two seasons ago, when they eliminated Xavi’s Barça from the Europa League. Hoping to repeat the feat, more than 16,000 people flocked to the Waldstadion on a freezing night. And the Eintracht fans dreamed of Laura Freigang’s header that put the German team ahead before the break. But the current champion turned the score upside down so the second half began with a brace from Salma Paralluelo and a goal from Mariona Caldentey.
Frankfurt was the first winner of the women’s Champions League in the first edition of the tournament, in 2002, and with four European titles it is the second club with the most, only behind Lyon. When they won their last Champions League, in 2015, Barça had barely finished professionalizing the women’s section. Then began an opposite path for German and Catalan women. The Blaugrana team reached their first European final just four years later, and today they already have two trophies in their palmares. Frankfurt began a descent into hell until it merged with Eintracht three years ago.
Today, the model to follow is that of the Blaugrana. “Playing against Barça means a lot to me. I’ve been a fan since I was little and it excites me”, reveals the young Eintracht forward Lara Prasnikar, who couldn’t hold back a tear before one of the most important games of her career. She scored Eintracht’s first shot on Sandra Paños’ goal, starting for the first time this season in the Champions League due to Cata Coll’s last-minute absence with gastroenteritis. The only change in an eleven modeled after Sunday’s classic in Montjuïc (5-0).
After the first quarter of an hour, Barça began to have the first chances in a start dominated by Blaugrana, but with little rhythm. He was creating chances, but too easy for the German goalkeeper. For its part, Eintracht had very clear ideas when it recovered the ball and looked to surprise with a shot from Freigang and a pipe from Anyomi that narrowly avoided Paños. But in the 42nd minute he couldn’t prevent Freigang’s header, which he finished alone in the area, from ending up in the back of the net. Third goal that puts the Blaugrana between League and Champions, all with Paños in goal.
Luckily, Giráldez’s came out with another march after the break and turned the score around with three goals in ten minutes. Salma Paralluelo, not very precise on the day of the classic, recovered with a double, and Mariona Caldentey extended her idyll with another goal, number one hundred in the Blaugrana shirt, taking advantage of a rejection.
Eintracht did not give up the game and continued to try to surprise Paños on the counter, especially with Freigang and Anyomi, and they were about to do it when the ball slipped from the hands of the Alicante goalkeeper, but the marker would not move anymore.
A triumph with which he remains the undefeated leader of his group, and with which he breaks the curse in Germanic lands. Barça had lost in the last two visits to Germany and here have been two of their last three defeats in the Champions League. The most recent, last season in the group stage against Bayern (3-1), and the year before against Wolfsburg (2-0).
