Women's Champions League final: Barcelona coach Pere Romeu on Alexia Putellas' leadership and Aitana Bonmatí's return
Tuesday, May 19, 2026
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Barcelona coach Pere Romeu reflects on defeat in the 2025 showpiece, praises "real leader" Alexia Putellas and celebrates the return of Aitana Bonmatí ahead of the 2026 UEFA Women's Champions League final.
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Coming to the end of his second season at the Barcelona helm, Pere Romeu is again preparing for a UEFA Women's Champions League final.
Sitting down ahead of a blockbuster meeting with OL Lyonnes in Oslo, the Barcelona-born tactician discusses the 2025 final defeat, Alexia Putellas, Aitana Bonmatí and opposite number Jonatan Giráldez in an interview with UEFA.
When Pere Romeu's Barcelona take the field in the Women's Champions League, they usually win.
Undefeated this term with eight wins and two draws from ten games, Barcelona boasted a similarly impressive record of nine wins and one loss on their road to the final in Romeu's debut season.
"I think there are three things here," Romeu responds when asked about the winning mentality of his players.
"The first one is they have the talent to win games. Not everyone has that. Secondly, they're humble enough to know that if you don't play at your absolute best, any team can beat you.
"And thirdly, they have competitive genes that make them always want more. These three things are very present here on a day-to-day basis."
Despite that winning identity, one loss looms large as Romeu and his charges return to the ultimate stage: the 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in the 2025 final in Lisbon.
"In that game, we didn't stick to what we'd been doing previously," Romeu reflects. "We didn't link up much in possession and we didn't switch the play much. We were too passive when it came to trying to win the ball back.
"Those were all aspects in which we excelled [throughout the season], but if you watched the final, you would have thought our team never did that or didn't know how to do it.
"We were the same players and the same coach, and we prepared the same way we did for the biggest challenges we'd faced before that."
Heeding the lessons of defeat has helped Barcelona return with a vengeance in 2025/26 – "we used everything we learnt from that season" – but Romeu is keen to ensure reflection does not become fixation ahead of the final.
"If we focus on what we didn't do that day, we'll stray from what we want to do now: keep performing well, playing as a team, and keep showing a competitive, perfectionist version of ourselves, both individually and as a team, as you have to be at your best on days like these.
"You can't underperform in a Champions League final – the slightest lapse of concentration can cost you a goal."
With the stakes so high and the margins so fine, Romeu is glad he can count on the on-field leadership of his experienced players.
Alexia Putellas, who celebrated her 500th Barcelona appearance with a 6-0 win at the Camp Nou in the quarter-finals, is a player the 32-year-old coach highlights.
"Watching how happy all her team-mates were for her in that game was special," says Romeu.
"Her vision, her perception, her intuition [stand out]. She's someone who's attentive to everything, who knows when to ask you how you're doing.
"She's someone who picks up on moments when a player is feeling down. She's a supportive person, a real leader in that respect. She's someone who, out on the pitch, demands a lot from people in terms of giving 110 per cent."
The return of three-time Women's Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmatí is another source of encouragement ahead of the final.
Sidelined since November by a broken leg, Bonmatí made her comeback as a substitute in Barcelona's 4-2 semi-final decider victory over Bayern München.
"I think that substitution against Bayern the other day worked out very well," says the coach.
"She came on when the team were winning by a fairly comfortable margin, she came on at a time when they were going to come at us, so if she was between the lines and could drive forward, we could make the most of her strengths.
"It's very important for us that she's available for these final weeks of the season."
As for the tactical battle, Romeu faces the challenge of outwitting a former mentor in Jonatan Giráldez.
OL Lyonnes coach Giráldez was in charge of Barcelona between 2021 and 2024, winning Women's Champions League titles in 2023 and 2024, and Romeu was his assistant during those years before succeeding him in July 2024.
"We know each other from the past, as he was the manager and I was his assistant," says Romeu.
"He hasn't experienced playing me as a manager but, tactically, he knows me down to a tee, and I know him down to a tee too.
"It's a final so small details will make the difference. We will try to be as well-prepared as possible to make the most of our strengths and to try to capitalise on the slightest of weaknesses that OL Lyonnes may have."
*This interview was conducted on 5 May 2026.
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