Tears and glory for Ewa Pajor, the striker who ended her Champions League ‘jinx’ at the sixth attempt

AI Summary

Ewa Pajor overcame a long-standing Champions League final defeat streak by scoring twice to lead Barcelona to a 4-0 victory over Lyon in Oslo. Her win broke a five-final losing streak spanning several years and clubs.

In Barcelona, some people of the ‘entorno’ called her “the jinx”. Ewa Pajor had played in five Champions League finals during her career: four with Wolfsburg in 2015-16, 2017-18, 2019-20 and 2022-23, and one with Barcelona in 2024-25 — and she had lost all five. On Saturday, the day she won her first Champions League couldn’t simply be just any old day and so it proved as she scored twice to set Barca on their way to a 4-0 triumph over Lyon in Oslo. In May 2025, exactly a year ago, she could fin