May 25 – Arsenal stunned FC Barcelona 1-0 to win the Women’s Champions League for a second time. Having beaten Lyon in the semi-final, Arsenal took the scalps of the two clubs who have dominated the European Women’s club game for a decade.
At the José Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon, Stina Blackstenius scored the winner with a cool, low finish in the 75th minute to lead the London club to their first European title in 18 years. The substitute picked up an excellent reverse pass from Beth Mead, another substitute, to finish across goal and into the bottom left corner.
In 2007, Arsenal defeated Sweden’s Umea FC which contained Brazilian great Marta and current Norwegian FA president Lise Klaveness in their line-up, but on Saturday they were underdogs against a Catalan side gunning for a third consecutive Champions League crown.
The Spanish boast two-time Ballon d’Or winners Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas in their line-up and, while famous for their intricate passing patterns and ball possession, they struggled against a well-drilled Arsenal side. Early on, Arsenal had a goal disallowed by VAR after Irene Paredes turned the ball into her own net. In the second half, Claudia Pina hit the bar for Barcelona and despite spells of sustained Spanish pressure, Arsenal held on.
The win is vindication for manager Renee Slegers, who took over following Jonas Eidevall’s resignation on an interim basis before being named permanent head coach in January.
At a news conference at the final, she said: “There’s not a lot of weaknesses in Barcelona as a team. They’re on a very high level but every team has weaknesses. We looked at how we could exploit it the best way possible but I think what we did so well was managing the game and using all possible tools to get the rhythm up, speed the game up and disrupt but stay close to who we are, what we want to do and I think the game management, that was key for us today and that was key to why we won today.”
Arsenal have become the first club to win the competition having progressed from the first round of the qualifiers.
They remain the only English club to have won the Women’s Champions League. En route, they defeated title holders Olympique Lyon following a comeback in the semi-finals. For the first time since 2015, the crown has slipped from the grasp of both Barcelona and Lyon after their unbroken run of nine Champions League titles.
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