After a compelling, almost concerning starting campaign in the UEFA Women’s Champions League last week, Barcelona Femení are back to their winning ways. And what better way to ascend up the rankings again than by handling Swedish super club Hammarby, 9-0. Not a typo. Nearly double digits. All while enjoying the warm Barcelona climate in the middle of October. Estadi Johan Cruyff boasted the girls in Blaugrana colors to sincere supporters on Wednesday evening, October 16th.
Home games usually bring the comfort of familiarity and ease among teams or individuals, and after a trek to a ceaselessly raining realm named Manchester, Barcelona Femení quickly settled back into a training regime and preparation for their next opponent. Losing to England’s finest is not something to be ashamed of, and if anything signifies how much stronger Femení can comeback. In the Champions League, European competition ranges from Austria to Albania, as long as a European domestic club in a league affiliated with the European governing body UEFA maintains a certain rank in their own league, all is fair to claim in the land of the beautiful game.
Over the years, the Women’s Champions League specifically has displayed winners from Germany, France, Spain, England, and even Sweden, when the women’s version of the competition first appeared. And believe it or not, when Futbol Club Barcelona was founded in 1899, it took almost 100 years to form a women’s team. Barcelona Femení have had a bout of being absolutely brilliant only very recently, dominating from 2020 onwards. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Hard work, patience, perseverance, proper funding, grassroots programs, elite facilities, higher pay, pristine player care, media attention, cultural awareness, and other factors helped to shape the Megatron that is Barcelona Femení now. This goes to signify that the women’s game is constantly evolving and changing, not just in Europe but worldwide.
Today’s strugglers are tomorrow’s stars. So, when Hammarby, a Stockholm based club, popular in the region, walked into Estadi Johan Cruyff yesterday afternoon, best believe that they weren’t going down without a fight. Hammarby currently stand in 3rd place in the domestic Damallsvenska, Sweden’s top flight. Barça’s favorite Swede is our very own Fridolina Rolfö, but some of her international teammates represent the Hammarby yellow and green. Usually, Scandinavian player appeal stems from Denmark, Sweden and Norway, but it should not come as a surprise that women’s football talent is recruited from all corners of the globe. And that swiftly showed when one of Barcelona’s two Norwegians, Caroline Graham Hansen spoiled the Swedish party with an early goal 10 minutes into play. Graham Hansen would go on to score again in the 75th minute, along with a flock of flying balls into the opponent’s net thanks to Claudia Pina, Alexia Putellas, Mapi Leon, Ewa Pajor, and Fridolina Rolfö. Nine goals in total, all coming from Femení. Hammarby seemed to be outplayed and outnumbered, as no answer would come for scoring back even half.
A satisfied outcome for one side, and as Barcelona know all too well from last week’s result, need to keep rolling the tide. As it stands for Group D in the Champions League, Barça are still behind Manchester City as Manchester City are yet to lose a group match, and just yesterday came back against Austria’s St Pölten to win 3-2. Nothing to fear as there will be an eventual rematch, although the next focus is on October 20th, back to league play against Levante UD. The result? We shall see.
