Champions of Europe
UEFA Women’s Champions League
May 24, 2025
José Alvalade Stadium, Lisbon
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On the eve of Arsenal’s return to the summit of European football, Leah Williamson—lifelong Gunner, survivor of triumph and trauma—rose before her teammates in the Lyon dressing room. Her words bound the present to the long memory of the club: of pioneers who fought when no one watched, of dynasties forged in the shadow of gunpowder. It was a reminder that this Arsenal side, often dismissed, always doubted, stood not on shifting sand but on an inheritance centuries deep in footballing terms.
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The women of Arsenal marched. Their commander, Renée Slegers, once a gunner in 2007, coached by Emma Hayes and Kelly Smith, shaped by the meticulous ethos of Sarina Wiegman, knew what to do. Her own playing career—55 Dutch caps, years across Sweden, Holland and England—was extinguished early by injury. Yet in reinvention she found mastery. Like Vic Akers before her, the architect of Arsenal’s 2007 European glory, she returned to the pinnacle with quiet, formidable resolve.
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Lisbon’s Estádio José Alvalade greeted them like a cathedral of green and gold. Nearly 50,000 filled its stands, the heat pressing down with a dry, relentless weight. Barcelona, children of the Mediterranean sun, would scarcely feel it. More than 3.5 million watched across the globe—the largest audience for a final since the sport’s revival—. In the stands, Arsenal legend’sVivianne Miedema—former Gunner now in City blue—alongside Ian Wright and Luís Boa Morte. All drawn to witness whether Barcelona’s empire would cement its era, or whether Arsenal, long written off, might claw back the crown they once held.
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Beneath the stadium’s steel arches—curved like the ribs of some ancient leviathan—two armies gathered. Barcelona, crowned by Ballon d’Or winners Aitana Bonmatí and Alexia Putellas, marched as the undisputed masters of Europe. Clàudia Pina, ten goals in the campaign, stood as their spearpoint. Six finals in seven years: a dynasty in full stride. Chelsea, Wolfsburg, Lyon—all had bent the knee. Their sweep of 2024—Supercopa, undefeated league title, and a 10th Copa de la Reina after an 8–0 demolition—marked an empire unrivalled.
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Only Kim Little remained from Arsenal’s victories over Barcelona in 2012, when the Gunners routed them 4–0 at home and 3–0 away. A different age, before Barcelona’s metamorphosis. In 2021, the pendulum had swung brutally: Barcelona beat Arsenal 4–1 and 4–0 in the group stages. Caldentey scored against the gunners that night—now she wore red, a defector against her former empire.
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Arsenal’s formation reflected both experience and ambition. Alessia Russo and Caldentey led the line, supported by Frida Maanum’s drive and Little’s command. To the flanks, Caitlin Foord and Chloe Kelly stretched Barcelona’s shape. Behind them, Van Domselaar, the Dutch sentinel, anchored a back line of Fox, Williamson, Catley and McCabe. On the bench: Mead, Blackstenius, Ilestedt, Nighswonger, Zinsberger, Walti, Cooney-Cross and Pelova.
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Arsenal pressed high, aggression measured but suffocating. Van Domselaar was summoned early, racing out to thwart Ewa Pajor and gathering the scraps with authority reminiscent of Emma Byrne in 2007. Arsenal answered with Foord’s header, then Kelly’s volley over the bar.
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In the 22nd minute, Arsenal carved an opening. Maanum’s cross forced Irene Paredes into an own goal—erased by VAR for a marginal offside. Minutes later, Maanum unleashed a thunderbolt from distance, Coll tipping it over the bar. Little volleyed high from a corner. Momentum grew, but the scoreboard held firm.
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Barcelona responded with waves of pressure. Bonmatí probed, Pina darted, Graham Hansen curled crosses into the box. Yet Arsenal’s back line, disciplined as desert fortifications, repelled them. At half-time: 0–0. A masterstroke of containment. “By then,” Little later reflected, “we knew the plan was working.”
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Barcelona stormed into the second half. Shots rained upon Van Domselaar: Pina’s drive, Batlle’s effort curling wide, Bonmatí’s sharp strike parried low. The crossbar shook from a looping ball. For fifteen minutes, Barcelona battered Arsenal’s walls—and the walls held.
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On 67 minutes, Slegers acted. Off came Maanum and Kelly; on came Beth Mead and Stina Blackstenius. Their impact was immediate. Russo dropped deeper, drawing defenders out of shape. Blackstenius lurked on the last shoulder.
Barcelona faltered. A misplaced pass in the 72nd minute released Blackstenius, denied only by Coll’s outstretched leg. Pajor headed onto the roof of the net moments later. The tension tightened like a drumskin.
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Then, in the 73rd minute, the dam broke. Mead slipped a reverse pass into the channel. Blackstenius met it with a single, decisive touch—low, angled, merciless into the far corner. A strike echoing Alex Scott’s winner in 2007. Arsenal 1, Barcelona 0. The Arsenal end erupted. The Catalan empire staggered. Appeals for offside were dismissed and Slegers summoned fresh reinforcements—Wubben-Moy to steady the ramparts, Hurtig to disrupt rhythm. Barcelona hurled everything forward: crosses, corners, desperate diagonals. Arsenal absorbed them all.
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When the final whistle swept across Lisbon, Arsenal had dethroned Europe’s greatest dynasty. Renée Slegers—the youngest woman ever to lift the Champions League as manager— half a season in command, and she restored Arsenal to Europe’s summit.
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As the night deepened, red-and-white banners rose in Lisbon’s warm air.
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Arsenal 1 – 0 Barcelona
(S. Blackstenius ‘73)