BARCELONA are aiming to complete a three-peat of Women’s Champions League titles and win their fourth European crown in five years when they face Arsenal in Lisbon tomorrow.

Barcelona are out to reaffirm their status as the dominant force in European women’s football after finally beating Lyon and successfully defending their title in last year’s final. 

The squad’s possession-hungry and high-scoring attack is led from the midfield by Ballon d’Or winners Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas and several other members of Spain’s World Cup-winning team that beat England in the 2023 final.

Barcelona will be playing their sixth Champions League final in seven seasons and a record-equalling fifth in a row at Lisbon’s 50,000-capacity Estadio Jose Alvalade. The Catalan club has the chance to become the only team other than Lyon to lift the European Cup in three consecutive years.

Standing in their way is an Arsenal side that has excelled as a spoiler this campaign and hope they can pull off another upset and win their second European title.

“They’re a fantastic team and they’ve obviously got the recent history to prove it,” Arsenal defender Leah Williamson said about Barcelona in the buildup to the final. “We respect them a lot, but it’s a final, so everybody turns up and everybody gives their best.”

Barcelona have rolled to a sixth consecutive Liga F title and reached another Copa de la Reina final, but at the same time they have proven beatable. Their home unbeaten run in Liga F came to an end after a record 64 games this season, where they lost to Real Madrid for the first time in 19 clasicos since their top rival founded a women’s team. It also started the Champions League with a rare group stage loss to Manchester City.

Arsenal remains the only English team to win the biggest title in women’s club football after claiming Uefa’s Women’s Cup in 2007 when they beat Umea, two years before the tournament was reformatted and renamed the Women’s Champions League.

Arsenal may be the underdog, but the club is likely comfortable with that role given their recent run of comebacks.