Season of comebacks: Why Arsenal's Uefa Women's Champions League win is a remarkable achievement
Arsenal forward Stina Blackstenius struck a late winner as the London team shocked holders Barcelona 1-0 on Saturday to claim their second Uefa Women's Champions League title and first in 18 years to the delight of their 5,000 travelling fans.
Arsenal beat Real Madrid, Lyon, and finally, Barcelona on their way to a second UWCL title. Between them, Lyon and Barcelona had won the last nine editions of UWCL and Arsenal ended that streak. Already the only English side to become European champions back in 2007, Arsenal extended that tally in 2025. Remarkably, Arsenal recovered from a poor start to the season that led to the departure of former manager Jonas Eidevall and the appointment of Renee Slegers. The knockout stage wins were thrilling comebacks as Arsenal overturned a 2-0 first leg loss to then dismantle Real Madrid 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, it was an away comeback as they beat powerhouses Lyon 4-1 at their home to advance 5-3 on aggregate.
We can't stop watching 🥹 pic.twitter.com/Cw9OnLopB3
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) May 24, 2025
Club legend Leah Williamson, who was outstanding in defence, was a mascot at Arsenal's 2007 victory over Sweden's Umea. 'A lot of this team have been together for a long time and to be able to do it on the biggest day, some people had the game of their lives,' she said. 'I'm so happy. I'm trying not to swear or cry.'
The win comes against a mighty Barcelona team considered on paper to be the best in the world. Barca midfielder Aitana Bonmati called the loss 'absolutely devastating.'
'I don't believe it,' the 2023 and '24 women's Ballon d'Or winner told Catalan TV. 'I just want to start the game again and do it differently. Personally, this hurts me a lot.' Barcelona were playing in their sixth final in seven years and had hoisted the trophy in three of the past four campaigns. Saturday's reverse was just their fourth loss of the season across all competitions.
In the title clash, Arsenal withstood a flurry of Barca chances before Blackstenius broke the deadlock in the 75th minute. The Sweden international latched onto fellow substitute Beth Mead's reverse pass in a crowded area and fired a low diagonal shot past goalkeeper Catalina Coll at the Estadio Jose Alvalade. They held on to win against a Barca side going for a third straight Champions League title. Blackstenius almost struck a couple of minutes before her goal but Coll stuck out a leg to stop her shot from 12 metres.
'Amazing,' Arsenal forward Alessia Russo told TNT Sports through tears. 'We had to suffer a lot. They're a top side. We knew coming into this game that we'd have to suffer and there would be moments when we wouldn't have the ball and we would have to be content and happy with not having the ball knowing our moment would come. Our squad just wanted it so badly.'
The Arsenal players stood arm-in-arm in front of their red-clad fans after the final whistle singing along to Queen's 'We are the Champions'.
'We knew it was going to be a game of momentum shifts because we respect Barcelona, we know how good they are on the ball but we also know how good we are,' Slegers told TNT, through a voice hoarse from celebrating.
'So we knew that momentum was going to shift. Maybe other people were thinking something else, but that's what we believed. In all the phases that happened in the game, the mentality we showed, the resilience we showed, the effectiveness in all our actions, our belief, it was incredible.'
(With Reuters inputs)
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