I was really looking forward to visiting Lisbon a second time. The trip I made late last year to cover Portugal-Sweden was a ton of fun. I returned home enamored with Lisbon’s charm, warmth, architecture, people, and food.
Unfortunately my return to Lisbon did not go off so smoothly. Upon arriving I got food poisoning, either something I ate the night before or more likely that first lunch I had in Lisbon. I spent the entire first night miserably hugged to the toilet. The second day, I spent locked in my hotel room. I was meant to go photograph the training sessions and press conferences but I opted to skip it in the hope of being semi-presentable for the final the following day.
The day of the final I kept myself locked in my hotel room until it was time to go to the venue. The final was played at the Estádio do Restelo, a small venue which seemed to be on the outskirts of Lisbon. Upon arriving I was a little star struck when I saw none other that Italian referee Pierluigi Collina. On a better day I might have approached him and asked to take a selfie together, but feeling as I did I opted to hide behind my 400mm lens and keep my distance.
The match started out extremely well for Tyresö who the took the lead after 28 minutes thanks to a Marta goal. They quickly made it 2-0 just two minutes later thanks to an effort from Verónica Boquete. When halftime arrived the scoreline was still at 2-0 and I felt Tyresö had the match in the bag. I didn’t think Wolfsburg was too impressive in the first half and didn’t rate their chances of turning things around.
Well football will often surprise you. Before I knew it the score was 2-1, and then it became 2-2 just six minutes later. Wolfsburg now seemed to be able to slice right through Tyresö with relative ease. Marta then restored a little hope for the Swedish side when she scored her second goal of the evening and brought them back into the lead. Unfortunately it would not be enough as Wolfsburg again went level and then took the lead for the first time at the 80th minute.
With the scoreline now at 4-3 in favor of Wolfsburg and only ten minutes remaining I knew it was all over for Tyresö. They had given everything they had already and had nothing left. The match came to it’s conclusion and the dream of winning the Champions League slipped away.
