The UEFA Women’s Champions League on June 3 will pit two of the game’s brightest stars against one another in Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas and Wolfsburg’s Alexandra Popp.

Both made returns for their respective clubs in the last few days. Popp had missed several matches with an Achilles injury but came back to score for Wolfsburg in her team’s 3-2 win against Arsenal in Monday’s Champions League semifinal.

Putellas made her first appearance since tearing her ACL last July in Barca’s 3-0 win over Sporting Huelva, which clinched their fourth straight Liga F title. Her team already had clinched its spot in the Champions League final.

So what can fans expect from the title matchup?

When did these teams last play one another?

Barcelona and Wolfsburg last faced each other during the 2021-22 Champions League semifinals. Putellas and Barcelona won 5-3 on aggregate but lost to Olympique Lyonnais in the final.

Wolfsburg have made six Champions League final appearances, with their most recent coming in 2020. Only Lyon have made more appearances in the final, which makes this familiar territory for the German club. But Wolfsburg haven’t won the Champions League since 2014.

Barcelona, meanwhile, won the UWCL just two seasons ago, beating out English club Chelsea for the title in 2021.

Who are the players to watch for each side?

While Popp and Putellas will be in sharper form by the June final, several other players also should feature heavily in this matchup.

Asisat Oshoala has been dominant for Barcelona this season, leading the team with 20 goals through 24 matches – a suitable follow-up to last season, when she led the team with 20 goals through 19 matches.

Midfielder Aitana Bonmati has helped to fill the hole left by Putellas, providing goal-scoring, playmaking and leadership inside the middle third. She’s leading the Champions League in assists, with seven through UWCL competition.

Popp has led Wolfsburg in scoring, with 14 goals through 17 matches despite missing several weeks due to injury. She’s followed by Ewa Pajor, who has 11 goals in 16 matches as well as seven assists. She ties Popp for a team-high 18 points.

Pajor has been the top scorer in Champions League competition, notching eight goals so far.

Arsenal’s Champions League run ended in injury and heartbreak in Monday’s 3-2 semifinal loss to Wolfsburg.

The Gunners, who already have lost three players to ACL tears this season, saw defender Laura Wienroither stretchered off late in the second half with an apparent knee injury. And despite the raucous crowd of 60,063 at Emirates Stadium, a record for a Champions League match in England, they conceded the winning goal in the 119th minute of extra time.

Wolfsburg clinched the match and the 5-4 aggregate win on a cross off the foot of Pauline Bremer. The club also received a boost from the return of Alexandra Popp, who missed the first leg of the semifinal with a calf injury but scored off a header in the second leg.

Injury luck, though, has not been on Arsenal’s side this season. Beth Mead, Vivianne Miedema and Leah Williamson all have suffered ACL tears this season. Team captain Kim Little sustained a season-ending hamstring injury in the Champions League quarterfinal, and Caitlin Foord injured her hamstring earlier in April.

Wienroither added her own name to the growing injury list Monday. She entered the match in the 64th minute and exited 18 minutes later on a stretcher.

The loss ends Arsenal’s bid for the Champions League trophy, but the club remains in the running for the Women’s Super League title. With 38 points, the Gunners sit nine points back of first-place Manchester United with five matches left to play.

Arsenal have made history once again, selling out Emirates Stadium for the first time in their history.

Monday’s Champions League semifinal will not be the first time the women’s team has played at Emirates this season, with the club having made a vow to play at least six matches at the venue this season. But it is the first time Arsenal have sold all of the 60,704 available tickets.

And fans are in for an exciting match, with the club playing the second leg of its Champions League semifinal against VfL Wolfsburg. The two teams are tied 2-2 after the first leg.

“‘Exciting’ doesn’t do it justice,” Arsenal and England defender Lotte Wubben-Moy said when asked about the sellout. “A lot of hard work has gone into this. When you look at the future sustainability in the game for Arsenal Women as a club that’s what’s most exciting for me. I hope every Gooner there will be screaming their hearts out.”

Of course, they’ve sold many seats in the stadium before, having attracted a Women’s Super League record crowd of 47,367 for the north London derby in September when they played Tottenham Hotspur.

Arsenal have bought into marketing the women’s games, with the marketing team remaining as one rather than having a separate team for the women’s side. That has helped bolster a trend of increasing attendance in the WSL in the wake of England’s Euros win.

It’s a step in the right direction for the club. Chief executive Vinai Venkatesham has said that he hopes to see the women’s team play all their matches at Emirates down the road. And with the club now selling out the stadium, that seems more and more likely.

“I don’t see this as an end-point for it. For me this has always been the natural progression that we were going to get here [selling out], whether it was this game or not,” manager Jonas Eidevall said. “I hope when we look back on the day tomorrow, in history, that we can see that was a starting point — to make this a regular occurrence.”

England defender Lucy Bronze is set to be out “a couple of weeks” after undergoing knee surgery.

The fullback went down in the 65th minute of the first leg of Barcelona’s Champions League semifinal on Saturday. She clutched at her knee before hopping off the field, though she later returned to shake hands with Chelsea’s players after Barcelona’s 1-0 win.

In his post-match comments, Barcelona manager Jonatan Giraldez said Bronze was “feeling much better.”

“Initially Lucy was a bit worried about her injury. She felt her pain in her knee, but now she’s feeling much better about it,” Giraldez said, per SkySports. “She felt pain in the knee but I think she’s fine right now. I was talking to her immediately after the game. It was scary at first but right now I think she’s fine.”

On Wednesday, Giraldez gave an update on Bronze, who has a long history of knee injuries and subsequent surgeries.

“She has lots of experience, the feelings are good with her knee,” he said. “She has a strain, an ailment. It’s a tiny intervention, just a couple of weeks. Lucy has been important for us. We have plenty of players here and I know we have players that can step in.”

In a Twitter post, Bronze called the surgery “successful.”

“In very good spirits after my knee op yesterday,” she wrote. “Thankful for all the kind messages, I couldn’t ask for better support. Currently working hard towards a speedy recovery to get back on the pitch with my team.”

The surgery is reason for concern for England fans as player injuries pile up. Captain Leah Williamson will miss the World Cup after suffering an ACL tear last week. Forward Beth Mead could also miss the tournament while recovering from her own ACL tear, and midfielder Kim Little is currently out with a hamstring injury.

England had its 30-match unbeaten streak snapped in a friendly against Australia earlier this month. Still, the reigning Euro champions remain among the favorites to win this summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Arsenal were delayed returning from their Champions League semifinal Sunday after their plane burst into flames on the runway at the Braunschweig Wolfsburg Airport in Germany.

Following a 2-2 semifinal draw against Wolfsburg, the Arsenal women’s team was traveling home to England when a bird reportedly flew into the left engine of the team plane during takeoff, causing the fire. The takeoff was halted and the players and support staff were evacuated, the Telegraph reported Monday.

“Our aircraft developed a technical issue prior to take-off in Germany on Sunday evening,” Arsenal said in a statement. “As a result, we remained in Wolfsburg overnight on Sunday before flying back to England on Monday afternoon. We would like to thank the staff onboard the aircraft and on the ground at the airport for their assistance.”

No one was injured in the incident. The team spent the night in a local hotel and flew back to London on Monday.

The second leg of the Champions League semifinal will be played Monday at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. A crowd of nearly 50,000 is expected for the match.

In the wake of current Juventus midfielder Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir’s successful lawsuit against former club Olympique Lyon for withholding her salary while she was on maternity leave, U.S. women’s national team star Alex Morgan shared her thoughts on how professional clubs can support the mothers on their rosters.

“Through Sara’s story, I feel compelled to express how at the very least a team can support their player that’s a mom,” she wrote on Twitter. Morgan had her daughter Charlie in 2020 and has played for the Orlando Pride and the San Diego Wave as a mother. She also played briefly for Women’s Super League side Tottenham Hotspur while on loan in 2020.

Morgan went on to list resources mothers need on away trips to be able to play at their best. Resources on the road came up in Gunnarsdóttir’s dispute with Lyon, as the Iceland captain told The Player’s Tribune that she did not feel her son was welcome to travel with her.

“The understanding between us just was not there, and I felt that,” she wrote. “They always made me feel like it was a negative thing that I had a baby.”

Morgan’s suggestions were as follows:

“1. Providing their own hotel room on away trips (yes we usually have roommates) 2. Providing a hotel room for nanny/caregiver 3. Providing seats on the team flight for baby, caregiver. 4. Providing meals/per diem on the away trip for baby, caregiver. 5. Providing a suite/private space at the game for baby, caregiver.”

“This is the bottom line. There are so many more ways in which a club can support their players with children. But again, this is the bare minimum from a club to a player.”

When asked about clubs’ limited resources for mothers, Morgan replied, “Well you shouldn’t own a team if you can’t (financially) support your players 🤔.”

This isn’t the first time Morgan has pushed for higher standards in the women’s game. She’s been at the forefront of the equal pay fight with the USWNT. Parental leave protections of up to six months are written in the the newly signed collective bargaining agreement, shared by both the U.S. men’s and the women’s teams. For domestic clubs, the recently ratified NWSL CBA also states protections for mothers, including eight weeks of paid parental leave.

Clubs outside of the U.S. don’t operate under the same type of collective bargaining agreements as the NWSL does. As a result, Lyon argued that they were following maternity rules under French law, but the international union FIFPRO took up the case and fought it on Gunnarsdóttir’s behalf. FIFA rules established in late 2020 dictate that players should receive up to 14 weeks of maternity leave and at least two thirds of their full salary. FIFPRO won the case, forcing Lyon to pay Gunnarsdóttir her full salary with interest.

When Morgan was at Tottenham, she also pushed for better training facilities, according to Wales international and OL Reign midfielder Jess Fishlock. On the podcast The Offside Rule in 2020, Fishlock said that “Alex came over here and made sure that the women’s teams changed their training fields, because where they were training was unacceptable.”

Maternity support has come up in the WSL recently. Reading player Emma Mukandi told BBC Sport, “The lower down the leagues you go and then money comes into it and facilities, then it’s easier for clubs and CEOs to be like, ‘No, this isn’t happening.’”

Megan Rapinoe has also spoken up about Gunnarsdóttir’s case, calling Lyon’s treatment of the midfielder “utterly disgraceful.”

“I implore you to be the club that is ALWAYS supporting women, not the club that once did,” wrote the OL Reign forward.

Megan Rapinoe slammed Olympique Lyonnais for their treatment of a former player. The French club withheld pay from the player during her pregnancy.

Rapinoe called the treatment “utterly disgraceful.” The veteran U.S. women’s national team forward plays for Lyon’s sister team in the NWSL, OL Reign.

“The culture at OL in France has a LONG way to go. Y’all love to talk about how much you support women, but this math is not mathing,” she wrote. “I implore you to be the club that is ALWAYS supporting women, not the club that once did.”

Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir, who is now with Juventus, played for Lyon from 2020-22. During her tenure with the team, she became pregnant. While initially supportive, Lyon later withheld pay and did not remain in contact with her throughout her pregnancy.

Lyon cited it as an issue with French law, but FIFA rules established in late 2020 dictate that players receive pregnancy and maternity leave.

While Gunnarsdóttir eventually took the issue to international players union FIFPRO, she was told she wouldn’t have a future with the club if she were to take the issue to FIFA.

“I couldn’t wrap my head around that. I was just shocked,” Gunnarsdóttir wrote for The Players Tribune. “And I’ll be honest, I was hurt. The whole situation made me feel crazy. How could any team get away with this?”

The Icelandic star later returned to the club, but she was told she couldn’t bring her son on away trips.

“The understanding between us just was not there, and I felt that,” she wrote. “They always made me feel like it was a negative thing that I had a baby.”

Gunnarsdóttir and FIFPRO won a lawsuit against the club, which was ordered to pay her full salary of more than €82,000 plus interest.

Per FIFA, the club failed to follow the “duty of care,” noting their lack of contact with the player during her pregnancy.

“No one was really checking on me, following up, seeing how I was doing mentally and physically, both as an employee, but also as a human being,” Gunnarsdóttir wrote. “Basically, they had a responsibility to look after me, and they didn’t.”

Other maternity policies also have come under fire recently. Emma Mukandi, who plays for Reading in the Women’s Super League, has criticized the English Football Association, which only guarantees new mothers 14 weeks of full play. The policy is also discriminatory toward poorer clubs, as new mothers receive less support, she said.

“If you’ve got loads of money at Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City, you’ve got loads of great facilities, having a baby there is not an issue at all,” she told BBC Sport. “But the lower down the leagues you go and then money comes into it and facilities, then it’s easier for clubs and CEOs to be like, ‘No, this isn’t happening.'”

Following their historic 2022 Euros win, the England Lionesses have reaped the benefits.

The stars of that squad — most notably, Leah Williamson, Chloe Kelly and Beth Mead — have graced the covers of magazines like Grazia and Hello!, done advertisements for brands like McDonald’s and presented awards.

“It feels like I’m managing a celebrity more than a footballer at the minute,” one player agent told The Athletic. “They’re demanding just as much — possibly even more — money than the male players. Brands and celebrities are passing on their numbers.”

According to The Athletic, one of the players is so popular that she needs three full-time staff members managing her commitments.

The players’ earnings have also grown as a result. Some agents described offers in the six figures, whereas before the tournament, “it wouldn’t have been anywhere near that.” Another player reportedly had to turn down a brand offering 5,000 pounds.

“After the Euros, our feet didn’t touch the ground for months,” the agent continued. “We had so many requests from so many different areas — areas that previously we’d been trying to push doors down in.

“Two days after the final, we booked in a day with our players where we had to sit down with pages and pages of requests. We had loads of big brands, including some that hadn’t done much work in women’s football, wanting to work with them.”

The increased popularity of the players is evidenced by their social media followings. Ella Toone gained 158,000 followers in the seven days after the final, while Leah Williamson’s account grew by 88,000 and Chloe Kelly’s by 68,000.

Nearly every player reported double-digit increases in their follower counts throughout the tournament.

Doors continue to open for players, including for those who didn’t play as many minutes.

“The players that scored the most goals and got the most assists are always going to get more attention,” an agent told The Athletic. “But it’s helped elevate players who haven’t got as many minutes to a point where they’re able to stand on their own two feet as Lionesses and get commercial partnerships. It helps them to get in the room. More brands are open to working in women’s football.”

Catarina Macario has a “strong chance” of leaving Olympique Lyonnais this summer, ATA Football reported Monday.

The U.S. women’s national team star joined the French club in 2021 on a 2.5-year deal, which will expire in summer 2023. Several top European clubs have expressed interest in signing the 23-year-old midfielder, including Spain’s FC Barcelona and Germany’s FC Bayern Munich.

Contract talks with Lyon were put on pause as U.S. businessman John Textor took ownership, ATA Football reported, but the team plans to make its own bid to retain the star.

Macario helped lead Lyon to the Champions League title in May, scoring nine goals throughout the competition and one in the final against Barcelona. But she was sidelined by an ACL tear in June in a league match that held no stakes — Lyon already had clinched the Division 1 Féminine title.

As a result of the injury, she missed the USWNT’s Concacaf W Championship title run, and the team missed her during a three-match losing streak late in the year. She is slated to return in February, coach Vlatko Andonovski said in October.

“Obviously, if I can start playing some games and be 100 percent for the Champions League at the end of March,” that would be the best-case scenario, Macario said in October. “I would like to start ramping it up in February and March and just go from there and hope for the best.”

Vivianne Miedema became the latest top women’s soccer player to sustain a knee injury, as the star striker left Arsenal’s Champions League match Thursday on a stretcher.

The 26-year-old went to the turf after she landed awkwardly on her left leg in the first half of the 1-0 loss to Lyon. Before the injury, she had been on a tear, scoring four goals in four matches for the Gunners.

“I have no information at all yet,” Arsenal coach Jonas Eidevall said after the match. “It’s just the concern I have here now after the game, and that’s where a lot of my thoughts are at the moment to be honest.”

The club has not provided further details on the injury. Miedema is set to see a knee specialist for further evaluation.

Miedema had taken a break from the sport in November to rest and recuperate. The Dutch star had credited the step back from the sport with her rejuvenated play since her return.

Also since her return, she had been vocal about the need for rest, for herself and for all athletes.

Miedema contracted COVID-19 this summer, which kept her out of several matches at the Euros tournament. After she returned from COVID-19, she jumped straight into training for the Women’s Super League season.

“I just didn’t feel mentally and physically ready to actually play,” she said. “I think you could see that in the way that I was playing. I didn’t enjoy my football at that moment.”

She called out the packed soccer calendar as a possible contributing factor in player injuries in a column for Dutch newspaper AD in November.

Also in November, U.S. women’s national team fitness coach Dawn Scott raised the alarm over ACL injuries in women’s soccer in particular. Players who have injured their ACLs in 2022 include: USWNT’s Tierna Davidson, Catarina Macario and Christen Press; Germany’s Dzsenifer Marozsán; France’s Marie-Antoinette Katoto; Spain’s Alexia Putellas; Australia’s Ellie Carpenter; Brazil’s Marta; and Denmark’s Nadia Nadim.

Miedema’s Arsenal teammate and girlfriend, Beth Mead, joined that list when she ruptured her ACL in November. She likely will miss the 2023 World Cup as a result.