Champions League final: Jule Brand before Barça final: “Never happier in life”

Brand’s sporting path in France’s third largest city is much more hilly, with the summit greeting you on Saturday (6 p.m./Disney+) after a few deeper valleys. “It is a dream of mine to win the Champions League and now be in the final,” said Brand in an interview with the German Press Agency before the final against FC Barcelona in Oslo.

It is the giant duel of the premier class: record winner “OL” has already won the Champions League eight times. Barça was involved in six of the seven most recent finals; in 2021, 2023 and 2024, the stars’ selection around world footballers Alexia Putellas and Aitana Bonmatí triumphed. “Each of them can decide the game,” says Brand. “We definitely know what to expect and have to be there from the first minute.”

Brand had to “get out of his comfort zone”

The fact that Lyon is in a premier class final for the twelfth time is largely due to the fast dribbler. The goal that made it 3-1 in the second leg of the semi-final against defending champions FC Arsenal brought the French team there. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt happier in my life,” says Brand. “Especially because things didn’t go that way at the beginning.”

Brand is 23 years old and is still a talent for many. Out of tranquil Wolfsburg and into lively Lyon – this step last summer was intended to help her mature, but it was initially a big one. “It was my first time abroad, I didn’t know anyone, I knew I always needed a little something – to get out of my comfort zone. I’m always rather reserved.”

Great respect for the “crass names”

Everything took a while and is still taking some time. French? “It’s not going so well yet.” The training? Be harder, more intense. And the stars? Of course bigger. “I had a lot of respect for coming here.” Especially in front of “such blatant names” like defense icon Wendie Renard or former world footballer Ada Hegerberg.

She gets a lot from the top stars. “They have already won so many titles, but you can just tell that on the pitch, in every training session, in every game, they want to win even more titles, they want to do everything they can, that they are not satisfied.” That still impresses her, it picks her up, says Brand, “I’ve never experienced something so extreme before.”

Criticism by Hrubesch and Kellermann

Brand has always been considered highly talented, but her achievements have sometimes fluctuated as much as the statements about her. “I’ll just say it like this: With Jule, I think she’s at 50 percent or 60 percent,” said former national coach Horst Hrubesch. Wolfsburg’s long-time sports director Ralf Kellermann complained in a “Kicker” interview in 2023: “If Jule wants to become a top player, she has to work hard on herself and live one hundred percent for football.” Subtext: Maybe she didn’t always.

National coach Christian Wück, who appreciates Brand as a “free spirit,” has long placed the 73-time international player, sometimes in the wing positions, sometimes as a playmaker. “Jule is one of our greatest talents in Germany. The move to go to Lyon shows how hungry she is,” praised Nadine Keßler, UEFA women’s football director, who, like Brand, comes from the Palatinate. “The DFB team will also benefit from their move to go abroad.”

Brand, who lives in Lyon close to the city center, now feels like she has arrived in France, “so right” since January, as she says. “Lyon has become my home, and I think I noticed that on the pitch.” Through training she has become more explosive and more stable. And more efficient. Only Melchie Dumornay has collected six premier class scorer points (three goals, three assists) within the club. What’s still missing for the top is their first Champions League triumph – and the trip to the basilica.