Arsenal Women 1 – 0 Barcelona Women

Stina Blackstenius’ second-half strike stunned Barcelona as Arsenal beat them 1-0 to win the Women’s Champions League final in Lisbon.

Pere Romeu’s side were heavy favourites heading into the game, having won three of the last four European titles. But Arsenal have been the comeback queens in this season’s competition, already knocking out record title-winners Lyon in the semi-finals.

Since then though, the Gunners had shipped 13 goals in their last three WSL games of the season, but they kept a clean sheet when it mattered with Daphne van Domselaar back in goal to lift the trophy. They remain the only English side to have won the Women’s Champions League, and the first to do so since their maiden title in 2007.

And while the entire team will go down in the club’s history, it was Blackstenius’ 75th-minute strike that led the Gunners to glory. She picked up a reverse pass from fellow substitute Beth Mead and finished across goal.

It was the second time Arsenal had the ball in the net, but the first was ruled out for offside. Irene Paredes turned a Frida Maanum cross into her own net, but VAR checked the goal and found an offside in the build-up.

Arsenal had the better openings of the first half – Maanum also forcing a fine save from Cata Coll – but Barcelona dominated after the break in both possession and chances.

Claudia Pina pinged an effort off the crossbar early on, with former Man Utd full-back Ona Batlle also going close.

But it was Blackstenius’ goal that saw the underdogs win the day, breaking Lyon and Barcelona’s stranglehold on the Women’s Champions League title – the first team to win the trophy outside of the big two since Frankfurt in 2015.

Arsenal will now go directly into the next season’s league phase alongside Chelsea, saving them from a qualifying round that would have been played by virtue of their second-placed WSL finish.

Kelly: I was ready to take a break in Jan – now I’ve won the Champions League

Chloe Kelly has revealed that she was ready to take a break from football in January.

In a transfer saga, the winger publicly expressed her unhappiness at Man City, eventually moving to her former club Arsenal on loan.

She has rediscovered her form with the Gunners, and Saturday’s Champions League win rounds off a real turnaround for Kelly, who is out of contract with Man City this summer.

“I’m on cloud nine right now” she told Sky Sports News. “I’m so grateful to Arsenal, I was ready to take a break from football in January and to be here now is crazy.

“I’m very emotional… Renee Slegers, what a woman.

“I appreciate these times. This club is a great football club, the girls are unbelievable and this is what this club deserves. Hopefully there’ll be more.

“I’m feeling relaxed [about her contract situation]. If this is my last game for Arsenal, I’ll forever be grateful for what they’ve done for me in my career. It’s hard to put it into words but I hope for more.”

Reflecting on the game, Kelly added: “What a graft. Barcelona are a top team and we knew we had to be comfortable being uncomfortable and that was our motto through the week.

“We rode the storm and for Stina to come on and do that is class.”

Little: It felt like our year

Arsenal captain Kim Little to TNT Sports: “We just had an incredible run in the Champions League. It felt like our year, we played the game the way we wanted.

“In the other games, we had two legs and had time to adjust. We had one game today and had to execute the game plan, manage the space well and the whole team did that. I’m so proud.

“I’ll have sunstroke later, it was very hot! Definitely worse than England, and with this Scottish skin as well!

“We have an incredible squad, we showed that today. Especially with Beth and Stina coming on, then Lina and Lotte who saw out the game.

“To win that trophy, then to lift it with Leah – a childhood Gooner and like myself had been at the club a long time – that was really special.

“This is the ultimate for a club, but we’ve not won the league in a while, so we’re due one of them. We’ll enjoy this one first!”

Slegers offers insight into Arsenal victory

Arsenal boss Renee Slegers to DAZN: “I’m so happy for the players, staff, everyone working so hard.

“The fans travel with us everywhere, they back us, they support us. We feel so connected to them and I’m so glad we brought this to them.

“There were a few key phases in the game when we knew we had to do really well. That was the start of the game, the first 10 to 20 minutes, we knew Barcelona were going to start fast and come here confident, so we have to stop them, which we did really well.

“Then we grew into the game, we created a couple of good, open chances. At the end of the first half, they had momentum, and we knew it was going to shift.

“They are so good on the ball and they locked us down in the final third, but we defended so well in the key moments.

“In the second half, they had a lot of possession. But again, how we suffered and dealt with different phases… The players that came on for us made a difference. I’m so proud of the team.”

On her substitutions, especially of Blackstenius and Mead: “You make decisions all the times, with players on the pitch and on the sidelines and getting the timing right.

“But all the credit to the players, and how they’ve dealt with this occasion has been superb.

“[We needed] fresh legs. It was really tough for the players on the pitch. It was a tough, physical game and we saw Paredes on a yellow card and we want to threaten them more in behind.”

‘Individual stories make up this Arsenal victory’

Sky Sports News’ Anton Toloui at the Estadio Jose Alvalade:

“From underdogs to the top dogs. From the guest house to the penthouse. For 18 long years Arsenal’s players have been sleeping in the shadows cast by the 2007 team that won European glory. Today, they are able to have their sunniest day for almost two decades.

“Arsenal were heroic. First half they were clearly the better team. Second half it was backs to the wall, hit them on the break and a great robbery. Barcelona came here full of enthusiasm, full of confidence and huge swagger, but Arsenal delivered the gut punch and Barcelona just couldn’t get back up.

“Think about the individual stories in the Arsenal team. Leah Williamson was mascot on the day Arsenal won the European Cup back in 2007, now she has gone from mascot to match-winner, one of the games of her life.

“Lotte Wubben-Moy – Arsenal through and through – celebrating on the sidelines. Players like Chloe Kelly, who started the season as an afterthought at Manchester City, now she’s a European champion. She’s won one of the biggest medals of her career.

“Kim Little, who joined the club the year after Arsenal won the cup in 2007, now she’s going to lift the trophy that she has been desperate to get her hands on. Renee Slegers even admitted herself she didn’t see herself leading Arsenal out in the biggest game in club football earlier in the season.

“You need to remember where Arsenal were back in October. A terrible start to the WSL, lost 5-2 to Bayern Munich in the group stage of the Champions League – they were the first team to go from the first round of qualifying all the way through to the final.

“‘Resilience’ is the word that has been buzzing around the Arsenal camp all week. They have been coming from behind all Champions League – remember they were two goals behind after the first leg of the quarter-final against Real Madrid, somehow managed to turn it around.

“They were a goal behind against eight-time European champions Lyon in the semi-final and then put on one of the best performances an English team has ever put on in Europe – until tonight, because they have just bettered that.

“Slegers now will be seen not just as a coaching miracle worker, but also the fact she’s done it in a completely different way to how Jonas Eidevall did it. She set aside 30-45 minutes every day for the players to come in to schedule one-on-one chats to talk about the tiniest little tactical thing or the biggest life thing. She is a players’ coach. The players absolutely adore her.

“It’s interesting when Arsenal were looking at candidates for the next head coach, they had some really big names who wanted that job. But Renee Slegers put herself out there, showed Arsenal’s hierarchy ‘I am the person who is going to do things my own way, differently’.

“It may seem laid back but it is in fact the most intrinsically planned and detailed plan that she can come up with. She’s proved why she will be seen as one of the best head coaches in Europe.

“Arsenal were in bits at the beginning of the season, look where they are now.”