Paris (AFP)

Last French competitor, Kheira Hamraoui finally touches a Champions League final, after four past disappointments.

At 31, the "chameleon" of FC Barcelona hopes to remove this "thorn stuck in the foot" and, above all, to win, Sunday against Chelsea, in Gothenburg.

The N.10 blaugrana intends to break the curse of the European finals, which it has familiarized with on several occasions without disputing any: suspended in 2015 with Paris SG, then in 2019 with Barça, it did not come into play during the coronations of 2017 and 2018 with Lyon.

"She has this thorn stuck in her side," especially as she "likes to feel a protagonist," notes AFP David Menayo, specialist in women's football at Marca.

For the journalist, coach Lluis Cortes should this time "bet on her in the middle of the field, on her experience and her physique".

Injured at the end of March, alternately titular and substitute, Hamraoui plays more of the leading roles at the end of the season, due to rotations and absences.

That of Andrea Pereira, suspended in the final, could allow him to be aligned on Sunday in a competition where his profile brings a real plus.

- Objective "too ambitious" -

At Barça, a fast and technical team, Hamraoui managed to slide his height (1.79 m) into the landscape without breaking the general harmony.

"You would think that with this physique, she is a little clumsy, but it's quite the opposite, she knows how to play very well with her supports, she reads matches very well, she is an invaluable aid for the defense and in the more it helps with creation ... It's a bit of a chameleon, it adapts according to the match, ”analyzes David Menayo.

For her teammate Alexia Putellas, interviewed this week, the native of Croix (North) could prove invaluable in the final.

"She brings the experience that these meetings require, she is a player who has been in great teams, won the Champions League, has quality and obviously her role in the team is important."

The Frenchwoman, passed by Saint-Etienne (2009/12), PSG (2012/16) and OL (2016/18), arrived three years ago in Catalonia with the idea of ​​winning the Coupe d ' Europe, at a time when Barça did not seem quite equipped for.

"On the day of the signing, in front of the club journalist who came to collect her first impressions, she wanted to say that her objective was to reach the final of the Champions League, and especially to win it with FC Barcelona. He had told her. especially not to say that, because it was too ambitious! ", laughs her agent Sonia Souid.

- Decisive -

Since then, Hamraoui has been decisive with the winning goal scored in the semi-final first leg of the 2019 edition against Bayern Munich (before being excluded on the return) and then in the quarter of the following year against Atlético Madrid ( 1-0 again).

"Recently, she told me: + two finals in three years with FC Barcelona, ​​it's beautiful. But this time we have to win it +", reports her advisor, convinced that being the last French in the final remains "anecdotal" in the eyes of Hamraoui.

Winning the European Cup on the ground could still allow the international tricolor (36 selections), more called since April 2019, to soothe the pain related to its sidelining of the Blue, adds- it.

"Wearing the national team jersey is the goal of any athlete, a great pride, so it inevitably weighs on her. Now, she tries not to think about it every day or she would get really sick", relays Souid.

"She is 100% focused on FC Barcelona and it is even more important to her to win this Champions League".

© 2021 AFP