Alexia Putellas and Melchie Dumornay boost Ballon d'Or hopes - but Mariona Caldentey and Arsenal's European dreams are over: Winners and losers from the Women's Champions League semi-finals

The Ballon d'Or race is heating right up, and it is Alexia Putellas who is the front-runner for many. She only strengthened her case at the weekend, too, scoring twice as Barca beat Bayern in a 4-2 thriller, to win 5-3 on aggregate.

In the first leg of this tie, Putellas was often far too deep, mostly picking up the ball in areas where she couldn't really hurt a well-organised Bayern team. But for the second leg, as Barca boss Pere Romeu swapped Vicky Lopez for Clara Serrajordi to adjust the balance in midfield, Putellas was able to get into more dangerous positions to produce four key passes - more than any other player on the pitch - and two crucial goals.

Her first was wonderfully well taken. As chaos ensued in the Bayern box, the midfielder wrapped her weaker right foot around the loose ball and steered it into the bottom corner, to give Barca a 2-1 lead on the day. After Salma Paralluelo extended that advantage, Putellas was then on hand to make it 4-1 with a brilliantly improvised and acrobatic finish that gave the Catalans some important breathing room.

After two injury-plagued years followed her back-to-back Ballon d'Or wins in 2021 and 2022, Putellas returned to a level last season that some believed was worthy of a third Golden Ball. She didn't get it in 2025, finishing fourth in the voting, but with her world-class consistency only continuing into this campaign, she may well get it in 2026.

When Jule Brand broke through into the Hoffenheim first team as a 17-year-old, there was a lot of excitement about the level she could reach. Then, when she joined Wolfsburg two years later, it felt like a good move. Though the dominant force in German women's football for many years, Die Wolfinnen boasted a great reputation for developing young talent and Brand could make the step up to the next level while remaining around her home comforts in Germany.

However, the move didn't work out as many imagined or hoped. Brand didn't kick on as anticipated, with Wolfsburg director Ralf Kellermann even publicly critiquing her progress in an interview with Kicker during the 2023-24 season, which can't have helped. That Brand responded by agreeing with Kellermann's comments seemed to only highlight the lack of confidence she was playing with.

When the young winger left Wolfsburg last summer, then, it was no great surprise. But despite a lack of success in Lower Saxony, she was not short of suitors. Indeed, in came one of the biggest clubs in the women's game, eight-time European champions Lyon, to secure her signature. It presented Brand with a fantastic opportunity to bounce back and prove her worth at the highest level - something she is certainly doing.

Saturday's winning goal against Arsenal, which was a result of a fantastic run and a wonderful finish, as well as a perfect pass from Melchie Dumornay, was her biggest moment yet, but it wasn't a one-off. Brand also scored in the first leg of this semi-final and now has six direct goal involvements in six Champions League starts this season, as part of 19 across all competitions. It's been a difficult road at times for the winger, who is still only 23 years old, but she is showing now just why there has always been so much hype about her talent.

This time last year, Mariona Caldentey was getting all of her long-overdue flowers. She had spent 10 years excelling at Barcelona but struggled to earn much wider recognition for it, because of all the star quality around her that would often grab the headlines instead. That changed, however, when she left Catalunya to join Arsenal, where she stood out as the Gunners' star player as they stunned her former side in the Champions League final for an unlikely European triumph.

Ultimately, the Ballon d'Or would go to her international team-mate Aitana Bonmati, who helped Barca reach that final and Spain reach the Euro 2025 showpiece, but Caldentey's position as runner-up in the voting, though one position too low for some, was a significant moment that gave her that widespread recognition. Her Player of the Year accolades in England, too, were extremely well-deserved.

During her second season in north London, things have not been quite the same. Caldentey has still played very well for Arsenal this year, but she has done so in a deeper midfield role, one that has not allowed her to return the same numbers when it comes to goals and assists - the stuff that tends to matter a lot when it comes to awards like the Ballon d'Or.

Performances on the big stages are another major factor, though. If Caldentey could work her magic in the latter stages of the Champions League, it would likely go a long way towards spotlighting her high level in this different role. Unfortunately, a year on from her scoring twice in the previous semi-final tie with Lyon, things didn't go to plan as OL exacted their revenge. Caldentey was part of a midfield that struggled immensely with Dumornay's excellence, leading to her being surprisingly subbed off with 20 minutes to go in France despite Arsenal needing a goal.

Should the Gunners be looking to put Caldentey back in a more advanced role again next season, to maximise her outstanding qualities in the final third? It's a question some will be asking, even if her partnership at the base of the midfield with Kim Little has been generally successful. That's especially the case given Arsenal don't have a nailed on starter in the No.10 role, as well as the fact that there are uncertainties surrounding the futures of both Beth Mead and Caitlin Foord, as Caldentey has also previously excelled in a wide, albeit inverted, role.

There's an argument to be made that Dumornay has been the best player in the world this season. So often, the 22-year-old is the stand-out performer whenever she steps out onto the pitch, a fact Arsenal will have been well aware of after the exceptional display she put in against the Gunners during the league phase back in October.

Renee Slegers' side took advantage of Dumornay's absence in the first leg of this semi-final tie - plus the unavailability of both Selma Bacha and Tabitha Chawinga - to take a 2-1 lead into the return game in Lyon. However, while there were certainly things Arsenal could've done better as they succumbed to defeat in France, there was little they could do to stop the returning Dumornay from running the show once again.

It was she who won the penalty from which Lyon broke the deadlock before her perfect ball over the top for Brand created the late winner. Unsurprisingly, the Player of the Match award was given to the Haiti international, who told UEFA after the game that she was filled with "immense joy" after being "powerless" in the first leg as she watched from the sidelines. "There is nothing harder than not being able to help your team," she said.

Dumornay was certainly not alone in being delighted about being able to play the second leg. She is a massive difference-maker for this Lyon side - and her telling contributions to OL reaching the Champions League final could go a long way in strengthening her chances of individual glory at the Ballon d'Or ceremony later this year. Based on the season so far, it's hard to argue she wouldn't be a worthy winner.

For Bonmati, the last five months must have been awful. The 28-year-old suffered a broken leg while on international duty back in November, forcing her to endure the longest spell on the sidelines of her career to date and miss some massive games for club and country. Bonmati was at the top of her game when that setback occurred, winning all of the last three Ballons d'Or, which will have made the injury all the more frustrating.

Initially, it looked like it was one that could even end her season, given the timeline for recovery. However, on Sunday, Bonmati made her long-awaited return to action, playing more than 25 minutes off the bench in Barca's thrilling semi-final win over Bayern. She looked sharp, too, coming within a whisker of a goal after breaking away on a promising counter-attack.

Having missed so much football, and so many big games over the last five months, the midfielder is now back at the perfect time. This month, Barca will play in the finals of both the Copa de la Reina and the Champions League, with a quadruple still in play. Then, next month, Spain face England in a decisive World Cup qualifier. Bonmati will be back for it all, in a huge boost for player, club and country.

While it felt like Bayern Munich took steps forward in the Champions League this season, this was another campaign that passed by without Pernille Harder getting her hands on the one trophy that continues to elude her.

Harder has been one of the best players in the world for the past decade, representing some massive clubs in that time, from former European champions Wolfsburg to 2021 finalists Chelsea and now Bayern. Indeed, she has won a domestic league title in each of the last 11 seasons.

However, she somehow still hasn't got a Champions League winners' medal. She's played three finals in that time, losing twice to Lyon and once to Barcelona, the two teams that have won nine of the last 10 European crowns.

It has been a wholly positive season for Bayern, who enjoyed their first run to the semi-finals on the continent for five years, and for Harder, who has been one of the most impressive players on the planet all season long. But with her 34th birthday coming up later this year, how many more chances to lift this trophy might she have left?

Given Bayern's impressive progress, and the fact Harder is still playing at a world-class level, plenty will hope that crowning moment can still come for a player who is also unlucky not to have a Ballon d'Or to her name, having been the front-runner for the 2020 award that was never handed out.

In October, after Bayern Munich had been battered 7-1 by Barcelona in the Champions League league phase, if it was known that the two would meet again in the semi-finals, few would've given Bayern a chance. That the German champions managed to make the tie so competitive, then, was a real credit to the players, the staff and head coach Jose Barcala.

Bayern have underwhelmed in Europe in recent years. This was only the club's second European semi-final appearance, after they threw away a first leg lead to lose to Chelsea back in 2021, with three quarter-final eliminations and a shock group-stage exit in the time since. Despite wrestling domestic control from Wolfsburg, it has just not translated on the European stage for Bayern, with Wolfsburg even managing to reach a Champions League final in 2023 despite that season sparking a run of four successive Bundesliga titles for the club from Bavaria.

It's hard not to feel like Bayern have taken serious steps forward this season, then. In this semi-final, they went toe-to-toe with the three-time champions in two very different matches. In the first leg, they kept it tight and stayed well in the tie thanks to a 1-1 draw that was characterised by defensive discipline and impressive resilience following a red card for Franziska Kett. In the second leg, they pushed the boat out a little more and could've scored many more, if not for the woodwork, some huge saves from Cata Coll and a controversial intervention by VAR.

To an extent, we've been here before. In the 2022-23 season, Bayern beat Barca 3-1 in an eye-opening group-stage encounter, but it would ultimately count for nothing in another quarter-final exit. Is this year different? It feels like it could be.

There will be pressure on Bayern to back this up next season, but Barcala showed good things in this tie to suggest he could be the coach to help this huge club finally assert themselves on the continent in the women's game.

Click here to read article