Mjelde defends Oslo Champions League final as Bonmati's venue criticism sparks debate

OSLO, Norway, May 22 : Former Norway captain Maren Mjelde has defended Oslo's right to host the women's Champions League final after Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmati criticised the venue as too small for the biggest game in women's club football.

The Ullevaal arena is sold out for Saturday's clash between Spanish giants Barcelona and French juggernaut OL Lyonnes, but Bonmati told Catalan media outlet RAC1 that the 28,000-capacity venue represented a retrograde step for women's football.

"Norway is a fantastic country, but the conditions are different. We come from filling large stadiums and going to a smaller field is a step back," Bonmati said.

Mjelde hit back by pointing to last year's final, where Arsenal beat Barcelona 1-0 in front of 38,356 fans in Lisbon's 52,095-capacity Estadio Jose Alvalade.

"A full Ullevaal is cooler than a half-full stadium somewhere else - if I'm not mistaken, it wasn't a full stadium for the final last year, even though it was in a bigger stadium," Mjelde told Reuters in the sunshine outside the downtown hotel that European governing body UEFA is using as its base for the final. 

"Of course you want to play in the biggest stadiums, but not all countries have them. Barcelona are very lucky and privileged in Spain, and it is probably the team in the world that attracts the biggest audience, but it's not like that everywhere, and I think that, if you can show football in several different countries, it will be much more attractive."

Barcelona boasted a crowd of more than 60,000 at their Camp Nou stadium for a 6-0 thrashing of bitter rivals Real Madrid in April, but averaged just over 6000 fans for their home games this past season. 

Mjelde, 36 and back playing in Norway after spells in Germany and