Real Madrid lets Iniesta go, and Barcelona, ​​European champions again?

Her departure was an open secret, but it became official this week. " Real Madrid CF announces that our captain, Olga Carmona , has decided to end her career as a Real Madrid player," read the club's statement from Concha Espina . It recalled that "Olga joined Real Madrid in 2020, at the age of 20. In all this time, she has played 186 matches and scored 28 goals. To this day, she is the player who has worn our shirt the most matches ."

Carmona, who his current team also boasted about , "with the Spanish national team he was crowned world champion in 2023, scoring the decisive goal in the final against England , and also won the Nations League in 2024," decided a few months ago to accept an offer from Paris Saint-Germain , which you don't have to be a genius to know is financially superior to the one Real Madrid put on the table for him to continue wearing white. Yet another leak .

Unlike the men's team, where it's hard to see a player reject a renewal offer , things are still very different for the women's team. The club, chaired by Florentino Pérez and managed by the deputy general manager , Begoña Sanz , is still far from being able to compete with FC Barcelona, ​​even though, after 18 matches with just as many defeats, 8 goals scored and 66 conceded, they finally beat them .

As this newspaper has already reported, the management of the F1 League, with Pedro Malabia, Javier Tebas's Mini-Me , at the helm , is not going as expected. Especially from an economic perspective , but also from a sporting perspective, as was evident on the penultimate matchday with the unification of schedules. Similarly, the sale of commercial rights to LaLiga is not something shared by all clubs , and especially Real Madrid.

A LaLiga change that benefits Barça

Added to this is the fact that, in the absence of its own financial control for the F League , the employers' association chaired by Tebas has decided that, starting in the 2025-26 season, LaLiga clubs will be able to invest up to €2 million in women's football, without affecting the salary cap of those belonging to LaLiga . In other words, a move that benefits FC Barcelona's ailing economy and is reminiscent of the famous levers.

And while Real Madrid sees the departure of Iniesta, this Saturday the Catalan team plays a new UEFA Women's Champions League final, in what will be their hundredth match in the top continental competition. The previous 99 matches were resolved with 72 wins, 8 draws and 19 defeats, 268 goals scored and 80 conceded, numbers that explain why they are now the third European team, after Olympique Lyonnais and Eintracht Frankfurt, that they can match .

In five years at Madrid, Barça won 18 titles.

The Blaugranas are playing their fifth consecutive final in Lisbon, their sixth in total, and are looking to lift the title for the fourth time . Incidentally, they will do so at 6:00 PM, half an hour before the matches in which Espanyol and Leganés will play for survival, a decision that has caused an upset in women's football. Their opponent at the José Alvalade Stadium is Arsenal , Real Madrid's executioner in the quarterfinals and the first team Barça has faced in this competition . That was in September 2012, with the English team winning 3-0 at the Mini Estadi .

Almost thirteen years later, with three presidents, namely Sandro Rosell, Josep Maria Bartomeu and Joan Laporta , and five coaches, Xavi Llorens, Fran Sánchez, Lluís Cortés, Jonatan Giráldez and Pere Romeu , Barcelona remains unrivalled in Spain. This is demonstrated by the fact that last weekend they won their tenth La Liga title, the last six in a row, and that in the five years since the Real Madrid women's team began operating, they have won 18 titles, which this Saturday could make 19 .

Just as happened when Real Madrid won 6 European Cups between 1956 and 1966 , a story that Los Blancos have recently repeated with their 6 Champions League titles between 2014 and 2025, the Blaugranas are on their way to being able to star in an advert like the one for a car brand that became so famous and that, applying it to the Catalan team, would say: "And Barça, what about European champions again?" Well, everything points to yes.