Armour of Frozen Mud

March 26, 2025
Emirates Stadium, London

 

North London has known nights of expectation. This was one. Arsenal came from a 4–0 demolition of Liverpool in the league, a cathartic act of revenge after their FA Cup exit that also meant the return of Victoria Pelova. Yet the scars of Madrid still stung.

​

Arsenal’s Women’s Champions League legacy carries the weight of a single, luminous triumph — the 2007 conquest of Umeå IK, still the only European crown held by a British club. Eighteen years on, with all domestic routes closed, this was their lone frontier. The Emirates had not hosted a night of such consequence since the semi-final against Wolfsburg.

​

The opening half was a siege. Arsenal pressed forward with method and menace, playing as if carving trenches in Madrid’s defence. Mariona Caldentey came closest — her header drifting just over from a Maanum corner. Caitlin Foord met a Russo cross, narrowly missing, and Chloe Kelly’s ceaseless runs down the right carved openings that refused to yield. Arsenal registered 26 touches in Madrid’s box before the break, yet no breakthrough came.

​

Then Madrid struck their own warning: Angeldahl forced van Domselaar into a sharp save, the rebound falling to Linda Caicedo — offside, but close enough to draw breath. The whistle at half-time blew across a scoreless field, lungs heaving, hearts refusing despair.

​

Forty-three seconds into the restart, Arsenal erupted. Kelly — relentless all night — delivered a low cross met by Alessia Russo at point-blank range. 1–0. The stadium exhaled, then inhaled louder. Moments later, Kelly struck again, this time finding Caldentey, whose header thundered past Misa Rodríguez. Three minutes, two goals. The aggregate leveled, and N5 shook.

​

Renée Slegers’ halftime words must have carried steel. Arsenal poured forward as if possessed. From a set piece, McCabe floated a dangerous ball; Russo met it with a half-volley that ripped into the top corner. In fourteen minutes, the tie had turned on its head — 3–0 on the night, 3–2 on aggregate. 

​

Madrid rallied, Caicedo tested van Domselaar again, but the Dutch keeper stood like a gate of iron. Twice Russo thought she had her hat-trick, twice the flag intervened — the cruel geometry of offside. Slegers cooled the fire with substitutions: Mead for Kelly, Wälti for Maanum, control restored without retreat.

​

In stoppage time, Madrid threw their last bodies forward. Van Domselaar denied Caicedo once more in the 93rd minute. When the whistle came, the Emirates was trembling.

​

Arsenal 3 – 0 Real Madrid
(A. Russo ‘1,‘59, M. Cladentey ‘49)