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Since first bursting onto the scene as a precocious teenager, Erling Haaland has been breaking all sorts of goal-scoring records and his current rate of a Premier League goal every 69.5 minutes is the best in Europe.
Well, actually, it is not.
Asisat Oshoala has an even more impressive record for Barcelona, as the Nigerian striker has scored 19 goals in 23 games for the run-away leaders in the Primera División Femenino at a ratio of a goal every 66.4 minutes.
Add five goals at 82.2 minutes per goal in the Uefa Women’s Champions League (UWCL).
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There is, however, a doubt about whether she will add to that total this weekend as the competition reaches crunch time.
Oshoala missed Barcelona’s last league match with a groin injury and could be ruled out for her side’s trip to the English capital for Saturday’s game against Chelsea, who eliminated record champions and current holders Lyon in a high-drama quarterfinal last month.
On Sunday, Arsenal will travel to Germany to face two-time UWCL winners Wolfsburg at a largely sold-out Volkswagen Arena.
In the early years of the competition, the final had been contested almost exclusively, with the exception of Arsenal in 2006/07, between clubs whose profiles in the women’s game far outweighed their stature in men’s football.
But the days when Turbine Potsdam, who twice lifted the Champions League trophy in 2010, or seven-time Swedish champions Umeå IK occupied the final four of European football’s premier competition seem a distant memory.
In fact, having narrowly missed out on a UWCL spot to Eintracht Frankfurt on the final day of last season, Turbine Potsdam are now staring down the barrel of a first relegation, as they are rooted to the bottom of the Frauen Bundesliga with just two wins all season.
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Many feel that this is because the cash-strapped Potsdam have been left behind by their rivals who are affiliated with men’s sides that are also battling at the higher reaches of the Bundesliga.
Former Turbine Potsdam player anonymously told the German outlet rbb24:
Eintracht Frankfurt engulfed the seven-time German champions 1. FFC Frankfurt in 2020, injecting much-needed money into a previously independent side that had lifted the 2005/06 UWCL, beating Potsdam in an all-German final.
The last time a non-men’s first division affiliated club reached the Women’s Champions League semifinal was in 2015/16 when FFC Frankfurt lost to German rivals Wolfsburg.
There is now only a select number of clubs that have the backing of Europe’s leading men’s teams and can compete in the latter stages of the UWCL.
In the last five seasons, only Barcelona, Lyon, PSG, Arsenal, Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg have reached the semifinal stage.
To even qualify for the UWCL requires strong financial backing.
Of the 16 teams that reached the group stage of this season’s UWCL, 14 are affiliated with top-flight men’s teams.
Swedish champions FC Rosengård and Austria’s SKN St. Pölten are the outliers among the pack of star-studded clubs.
Only three of those affiliated men’s teams – Lyon, Wolfsburg and Vllaznia - failed to qualify for any of the three men’s European competitions this season.
With the introduction of VAR from the quarterfinal stages, games must be played at stadiums that have the relevant infrastructure, meaning clubs not associated with men’s teams would once more be at a disadvantage if they were to reach that stage.
Two of the teams that best demonstrate the bottleneck of finances at the top of women’s football are Chelsea and Barcelona, who are in the midst of an unbeaten league record of 60 games.
Barca splashed out €470 000 (R9.4 million), including add-ons, to sign Kiera Walsh from Manchester City, beating the world record fee paid for a women’s player, set by Chelsea when they signed Pernille Harder for £250 000 (R5.7 million) in 2020.
The Blues welcome the Spanish Champions to Stamford Bridge for the first leg of their semifinal.
Chelsea will be without their regular centre-back partnership of Millie Bright and Kadisha Buchanan, who are both out injured.
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But Emma Hayes’ side will be boosted by the return of the former most expensive footballer in women’s history Pernille Harder, who returned to the bench for their 1-0 FA Cup semifinal win over Aston Villa last Sunday.
Barcelona will also be without their key player as Alexia Putellas is still on her way back from an ACL injury, and might miss Oshoala.
