Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas score as Barcelona defend their Women’s Champions League title with a win against Lyon

Second-half goals from Ballon d’Or winners Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas inspired Barcelona to defend their Women’s Champions League title and their first quadruple with a 2-0 win over Lyon in Spain.

Bonmati, who was named the best female footballer in the world last year, scored the opening goal in the 63rd minute before Putellas, who came on as a substitute in the third minute of stoppage time, took over the captain’s armband and ensured that her club’s name was engraved on the trophy for the third time in its history.

It was the first time that Barca, who fielded English midfielder Keira Walsh and a particularly in-form Lucy Bronze, had beaten the French champions at the fifth attempt – and in front of a record crowd of 50,827 at a Women’s Champions League final at the San Mames Stadium in Bilbao.

Emma Hayes had hoped to end her 12 years at Chelsea with a win in this final, the only trophy that eluded the new American coach before moving across the pond.

But the Blues narrowly missed out on their second Champions League title and it was Hayes’ hotly tipped potential successor Sonia Bompastor whose Lyon failed to overcome Chelsea’s executioners in the semi-finals to win their ninth title in the club’s history.

The French champions were almost gifted the first goal when Bronze’s attempt to clear a Lyon header clipped the bar. Barca almost took the lead before half-time when Christiane Endler blocked Patricia Guijarro’s attempt from a tight angle, but the rebound took a dangerous deflection off the goalkeeper’s team-mate and was cleared off the goal line by the alert Selma Bacha.

Lyon should have taken the lead when captain Wendie Renard failed to finish off Lindsey Horan’s clever cross after the break, but it was Bonmati who finally put Barcelona ahead in the 63rd minute: his arcing shot hit the leg of Vanessa Gilles and then flew into the top right corner.

Putellas tore her anterior cruciate ligament two years ago and missed the 2022 European Championship. However, she was part of the Spanish squad that won the World Cup last summer and signed a new contract four days ago that will keep the hugely popular player in the Catalan capital for two more years.

When the 30-year-old entered the field in the third minute of injury time, she was greeted with thunderous applause. Three minutes later, the applause grew into a loud roar when she hit the ball into the net to seal the win.