Women's Champions League is the most prestigious international club competition in European female football, and its 25/26 season concluded this weekend in Oslo - with a final duel between France's Olympique Lyonnais and Spain's FC Barcelona. Polish football superstar, Ewa Pajor, started as a striker for the latter - and played a crucial role in claiming the title.
Although the Catalonians won the final 4-0, the game was very close from the start, and neither of the teams managed to score before the halftime whistle. Nine minutes into the 2nd half, however, Barcelona's Patricia Guijarro took the ball through the midfield, found Ewa Pajor, and the Polish striker's placed shot made it 1-0.
Fifteen minutes later, the 29 year old Polish forward doubled Barca's lead, keeping her cool among the chaos in the French team's box, and converting Salma Paralluelo's back pass from the byline.
The other two goals for Barca were scored by Paralluelo herself in the 90th and 93rd minute, sealing Barcelona's triumph in this season's Women's Champions League. The latter of these came from Ewa Pajor's assist, which added even more sparkle to the Pole's already sterling performance - for which she was given the Woman of the Match award.
This success capped an already illustrious season for the Blau-Grana Femeni team, who were crowned Spanish Champions in previous weeks, and also won both the domestic Cup and Super Cup.
The Catalonian club has brought home the WCL trophy for the fourth time in its history - and in this respect they are second only to their Saturday's rivals, who sport eight titles so far.
By lifting the trophy, Ewa Pajor broke the "Women's Champions League finals curse" she was dealing with so far, as it was already her sixth game for the title, but her teams had lost on all previous five occasions.
On top of the team success, the Pole also won the 25/26 WCL top goalscorer crown with 11 goals - and made the competition's Team of The Season.
Pajor, who captains Poland's National team, is one of the global superstars of women's football. She was named Polish Women's Player of the Year six times by the Piłka Nożna weekly, won the Women's Gerd Müller Trophy in 2025, and placed 8th in that year's prestigious Ballon d'Or ballot.
Including the brace from Saturday's final - Pajor has scored 44 goals in the Champions League since the beginning of her career - and she is currently the seventh best all-time goalscorer in European women's club competitions, as per the UEFA data. One of her Saturday opponents, Norwegian Ada Hegerberg, leads the way with 69 goals.
Ewa Pajor moved to Barcelona in the summer of 2024, following a nine-season successful stint with Germany's VfL Wolfsburg. She made an impact in Catalonia from day one - and in two seasons with the Blau-Grana she scored 76 goals in 87 official games across all competitions.
Apart from all her Barcelona exploits - Pajor has also been crucial to the Polish women's National Team in the last decade, with 71 goals scored in 109 appearances. She led Poland to its first ever European Championships qualification in 2025, and scored the country's first ever goal at women's EURO, hitting the net in a historic win against Denmark.
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Source: PAP, IAR