BARCELONA, May 3 (Reuters) - Midfielder Alexia Putellas struck twice as Barcelona beat Bayern Munich 4-2 in the second leg of their Women’s Champions League semi-final on Sunday to complete a thrilling 5-3 aggregate win and set up a final showdown with French side OL Lyonnes.
After a 1-1 draw in Munich a week ago, Bayern came to Spain looking to pack their defence and hit their opponents on the break, butBarcelona got off to a flying start when Caroline Graham Hansen crossed for Salma Paralluelo to open the scoring in the 13th minute.
The visitors struck back quickly, Linda Dallmann levelling four minutes later with a well-placed finish, but Putellas put the home side back in front with a deflected effort in the 22nd minute as Barcelona constantly attacked from the flanks, causing all manner of problems for the Bayern defence.
Polish striker Ewa Pajor, who scored Barcelona's goal in the first leg, netted a superb glancing header to notch her ninth goal in the competition in the 54th minute, and Putellas hooked home her second of the game four minutes later to seemingly kill the game off.
Bayern's Danish striker Pernille Harder had other ideas, drilling the ball into the far corner to reduce the deficit in the 71st minute as the German side punished a rare error in the Barcelona defence.
The visitors then hit the woodwork twice late on before Harder fired home again in the 90th minute, but agonisingly for the Germans, the goal was chalked off for a foul in the build-up after a VAR review and Barcelona held on to win.
Barcelona will face the side formerly known as Olympique Lyonnais in the final in Oslo, Norway, on May 23.
It will be the sixth final in a row for the Spanish giants, who won the competition in 2021, 2023 and 2024.
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
