OL Lyonnes coach Jonatan Giráldez on facing his former club Barcelona in the Women's Champions League final
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
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After leading Barcelona to two consecutive Women's Champions League titles in 2023 and 2024, OL Lyonnes coach Jonatan Giráldez will attempt to defeat his former side in the 2026 Women's Champions League final.
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"You’ve got to leave emotions out of it and be as focused as possible, because these details make the difference in terms of whether you’re at 100% or not, what you’re capable of and which way the scales tip," Jonatan Giráldez told UEFA, in the build-up to facing his former club Barcelona in the UEFA Women's Champions League final.
Saturday's showpiece will be his first meeting with the club he led to two consecutive European titles.
In his first season in charge of OL Lyonnes, the 34-year-old has won two domestic trophies and reached the finals of both the Women's Champions League and the French Women's First Division play-offs.
But it hasn't all been plain sailing for Giráldez's side in Europe; the eight-time winners needed to come from behind in both their quarter-final against Wolfsburg and semi-final against Arsenal to reach a record-extending 12th final.
"It hasn’t been easy to win all the matches we’ve won to reach this final," the Spanish coach said. "When you have the chance to play against the best players, it gives you that extra edge in terms of competitiveness; it makes you improve.
"We try to push the players to their limits in training. Without a doubt, these matches make the players focus for every minute, every action, every challenge to the full, and that helps them improve and prepare for the matches to come."
Last season, OL Lyonnes failed to reach the final after letting a first-leg lead slip in their last-four tie with eventual winners Arsenal. This year, they turned the table on the Gunners by responding to a 2-1 defeat in north London with a 3-1 home victory.
"We knew we had to perform much better, play better football, both in attack and defence, in the second leg," the OL Lyonnes coach reflected.
"I think the second leg was a top-class match. We were better than our opponents, we pressed very well, we played excellent football, created more chances, and we truly deserved that victory."
Giráldez has mixed memories of coaching in Women's Champions League finals, having initially experienced both defeat and triumph as assistant coach with Barcelona before reaching three as their head coach – losing to OL Lyonnes in 2022, winning against Wolfsburg in 2023 and beating OL Lyonnes in 2024.
"The experience helps you, especially when it comes to preparation on a logistical level," he reflected. "Then there are the emotions of playing undoubtedly the most important game in women’s football.
"Finals are games that are decided on small details; they're games in which you’ve got to stay on top of every detail related to football. You’ve got to leave emotions out of it and be as focused as possible."
Giráldez knows his players will need to be at their best to beat a star-studded Barcelona squad that have scored 37 goals and conceded just eight on their journey to the final.
"You can analyse them, you know how they play, you see that the opponents adapt the game in order to defend against them, and at the end of the day they’re still capable of doing what they had planned."
But Giráldez now has his own superstars at OL Lyonnes – including captain Wendie Renard, who has been part of all eight of OL Lyonnes' European crowns.
"I’ve learned a lot from her. I encountered a way of leading that I’d never seen before and that helps you understand why this team has been so successful.
"Wendie is a player and a captain who helps tremendously with everything off the pitch, ensuring that the players are focused and well rested, that they recover, that they’re punctual, that they’re respectful, that they give it their all in training and that they’re good team-mates. They’re things you can’t see, but that, as the coach, I’m very thankful for."
Another player at the heart of OL Lyonnes' past successes is striker Ada Hegerberg.
"Ada is a very competitive player and person. She puts in a lot of work behind the scenes that other players benefit from. We’re lucky to have Ada helping the team and leading by example, and we need players with her profile if we want to have a chance of winning everything."
Unlike Renard and Hegerberg, 22-year-old Melchie Dumornay is yet to win her first European medal, but has been instrumental in OL Lyonnes' run to the final.
"She’s a player who always wants more, who always wants to improve, no matter whether she has scored or not. She has a way about her that will enable her to become whoever she wants to be because, to be world class, apart from having the talent, you need the personality to want it, and she wants it."
Achieving success with a talented squad is about far more than nurturing individuals though, according to the OL Lyonnes coach.
"You have to find a way to have everyone on the same boat so we all go in the same direction. I think the strength you get when you succeed in having all the players and all the staff rowing in the same direction with the same goal in mind is much greater than any individual interests.
"I think it’s key when everyone has that respect and that commitment to our common goal, which is to win as a team."
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