Barcelona is a club that never strays far from the headlines, and this week, the Catalan giants delivered a double dose of drama—one part dazzling football, one part off-field chaos. If you thought the only fireworks would come from the pitch, think again. While striker Ewa Pajor was rewriting the record books in the Women’s Champions League, Barcelona’s front office was busy spinning their latest financial saga and fending off fresh legal scrutiny. It’s a tale of two Barcelonas: one conquering Europe, the other just trying to keep the lights on.
Let’s start with the good news—at least, if you’re a fan of goals. On October 7, 2025, Barcelona’s women’s team sent a message to the rest of Europe with a thunderous 7-1 victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League. The star of the night? None other than Ewa Pajor, the Polish striker who’s making a habit of breaking records and defenders’ hearts in equal measure. Pajor netted a brace—her 50th and 51st goals for Barcelona—helping her side notch one of their ten biggest wins in Women’s Champions League history. Not bad for a player who only joined the club in June 2024.
Pajor’s numbers are, frankly, jaw-dropping. She entered the Bayern match with 49 goals in 54 games for Barcelona. By the final whistle, she’d pushed that tally to 51 in 55 appearances. Since signing from VfL Wolfsburg, where she racked up 135 goals in 196 games, Pajor has been nothing short of prolific. In the previous season, she scored 43 goals across all competitions, including 25 in the Spanish league—enough to steer Barcelona to the Liga F title. She also bagged seven goals in the Champions League, though the campaign ended in heartbreak with a final defeat to Arsenal.
But if last season was impressive, Pajor’s current form is downright frightening. She’s averaging more than a goal per game, with eight strikes in her first seven appearances of the 2025-26 campaign. That run includes braces not only against Bayern, but also Alhama and Athletic Bilbao. No other striker in Europe’s top leagues has kept pace since her arrival in Spain. The next closest, teammate Claudia Pina, trails by a whopping 19 goals with 32. In fact, Pajor’s 51 goals since June 2024 are the most in Europe, outpacing stars like Melchie Dumornay (25 for Lyon), Temwa Chawinga (27 for Kansas City), and Alexia Putellas (24 for Barcelona).
Her exploits haven’t gone unnoticed. Pajor was awarded the Gerd Muller Trophy at the Ballon d’Or awards for scoring the most goals in a calendar year for club and country. Yet, in a twist that’s left some fans scratching their heads, she finished only eighth among strikers in the Women’s Ballon d’Or rankings. According to the awards, Aitana Bonmati took home the top honor for a third straight year, while Alessia Russo finished as the highest-ranked striker. Still, Pajor’s case for being the game’s deadliest forward is only growing stronger. If Barcelona can translate her goals into Champions League glory this season, expect her to climb even higher in the global pecking order.
So, is Ewa Pajor the best striker in women’s football right now? Statistically, she’s leaving the competition in the dust. Her relentless scoring has set a new standard at Barcelona, and if her current pace holds, she could be in line for even greater individual and team accolades by season’s end.
While Pajor and her teammates were lighting up the scoreboard, Barcelona’s executives were scrambling to explain another year of red ink. According to ESPN, the club posted post-tax losses of €17 million for the 2024-25 season—on top of last year’s €91 million deficit. That’s a staggering €108 million hole over two years, despite revenues climbing to a record €994 million. The club’s brass is spinning this as a sign of “consolidation of the club’s economic recovery.” Their logic? Revenue is up by €100 million, thanks to a new Nike deal, surging merchandise sales, and unexpectedly strong attendance at the Olympic Stadium while Camp Nou undergoes renovations.
Barcelona’s leadership is promising that the financial clouds will clear soon. With the newly renovated Spotify Camp Nou set to reopen, they’re predicting a return to profitability next season, banking on an extra €50 million in revenue from the stadium’s grand comeback. It’s a bold forecast, and one that fans—and creditors—will be watching closely.
This isn’t the first time Barcelona has tried to paper over financial cracks. When Joan Laporta returned as president in 2020, he inherited a club in turmoil. The first year under his watch saw a jaw-dropping €481 million loss, blamed on the pandemic and some creative accounting. The club then posted profits for two years, but only by selling off future TV rights—a move critics liken to taking out payday loans. The result? Short-term relief, but a bill that’s still coming due.
As if that weren’t enough, Barcelona is now under investigation for alleged tax evasion tied to the 2018 signing of Brazilian winger Malcom. The club reportedly paid €10 million to a company called Business Futbol Espana for “intermediation services” that investigators suspect were either fabricated or grossly inflated. The alleged scheme rerouted €8.4 million through this company, potentially dodging a hefty 50% income tax on Malcom’s salary. The mess adds to the legal woes of former president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his associates, already facing charges for mismanaging funds and concealing payments in the high-profile transfers of Neymar and Antoine Griezmann. Police have uncovered altered contracts and invoices that, according to investigators, “looked faker than a three-dollar bill.”
Laporta’s current board is doing damage control, making a “preventive tax regularization” payment—that’s bureaucratic speak for settling up with the taxman before things get even messier. Whether that’s enough to keep the wolves at bay remains to be seen. The courts are still sorting out whether the club itself or just specific individuals will face penalties for the Malcom affair.
Through it all, Barcelona’s on-field performance remains a beacon amid the storm. While the club’s financial and legal troubles dominate the headlines, their women’s team continues to set new standards for excellence. Ewa Pajor’s record-shattering run is the latest example of a club that, for all its off-field drama, still knows how to deliver when it matters most.
As the season unfolds, the question isn’t just whether Barcelona can balance their books—it’s whether their stars can keep shining bright enough to outpace the shadows off the pitch. For now, at least, the goals keep coming, the drama keeps building, and the world keeps watching.
