The Japan Times - Barcelona enter new era aiming to retain Women's Champions League crown

The two-time former Ballon d'Or winner skippered Barca to victory over OL Lyonnes in last season's final in Oslo before leaving for ambitious English Women's Super League outfit London City Lionesses.

Her departure attracted most headlines but other stars of the Barcelona side that has replaced Lyon as the Champions League's outstanding team have also left.

Defender Mapi Leon followed Putellas to London City, the club backed by billionaire American businesswoman Michele Kang. Full-back Ona Batlle joined Arsenal and forward Salma Paralluelo signed for Lyon.

However, coach Pere Romeu signed a new contract, while his squad for this season still features six players nominated for the Ballon d'Or.

Aitana Bonmati is not nominated for the award she won in each of the last three years, but will be hoping for a big season after recovering from a broken leg.

Barcelona have been in seven of the last eight Champions League finals, winning four.

Their aim is to retain their crown, despite deciding not to pay the kind of wages being offered to players by their leading European rivals.

"Here at Barca we can be relaxed about the fact this is a place where players grow and where we have a young squad that in some ways is still full of veterans," Romeu told El Mundo Deportivo.

"I think here we have something that is difficult to get with clubs that are run differently, which is that sense of belonging that is generated and is very important for the development of the players."

On Putellas leaving, he added: "A fundamental piece of our squad has gone, but the club as a whole is way more important than any player or coach."

Barcelona begin their campaign at home to Paris FC. Later on they will notably host Arsenal in a repeat of the 2025 final.

- Lyon roaring back? -

Lyon, another of Kang's clubs, will be determined to bounce back from their humbling 4-0 loss to Barca in Oslo, and the French champions have made some interesting additions as they look to add to their record overall haul of eight titles.

As well as Paralluelo, they have signed Scotland's Caroline Weir from Real Madrid while Johanna Rytting Kaneryd is in from Chelsea.

France forward Kadidiatou Diani has gone to London City and Lindsey Heaps has returned to the US, but veterans Wendie Renard and Ada Hegerberg remain.

Their margin over the rest of the domestic scene in France should help them to ease through to the latter stages in Europe.

They will notably face both Chelsea and Arsenal, two of the three representatives from the WSL -– the English league seems to have the opposite issue, with a strong domestic scene but no clubs yet capable of dominating in Europe.

Arsenal became the first English Champions League winner in almost 20 years in 2025, but the Gunners lost to Lyon in last season's semi-finals. Chelsea were runners-up in 2021 but have not gone beyond the semis since.

Manchester City, who start at German champions Bayern Munich, are fresh from winning a first WSL title since 2016. They have kept star striker Khadija Shaw and brought in Beth Mead from Arsenal.

While there are three clubs each from England, France and Italy, Real Madrid are the only other Spanish side involved. Bayern are Germany's only contender, after former champions Wolfsburg failed to make the league phase.

"Some clubs like Barcelona have lost one or two players," Bayern's Linda Dallmann told Sport Bild.

"This gives us the chance to close the gap a bit, because our squad this year is almost identical to last season's."

There are 18 teams in the league phase, each playing six games. The top four in the final standings advance to the quarter-finals, with the next eight involved in play-offs to determine the last berths in the quarters.

This season's final will be in Warsaw over the last weekend in May, with the Women's World Cup in Brazil starting soon after.

K.Yamaguchi--JT