How Champions League winners Arsenal benefited from top coaching and a tight league table

New York Times

26-05-2025

As Arsenal head coach Renee Slegers reminded veteran striker Beth Mead, the substitutes's assignment when she entered the fray in the 68th minute had been simple.
'I was like, 'I told you, pass Stina (Blackstenius). Give the ball to Stina and she will score,'' recalled Slegers as confetti streaked across the Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon, Portugal, with the north London club having secured its first Champions League title in 18 years courtesy of a 1-0 victory over Barcelona.
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The 36-year-old is the first Dutch manager ever to win a women's Champions League title.
It is never quite as easy as a joke made in the afterglow of an historic success might suggest, but who wouldn't indulge in a haughty celebration? Mead's pass sliced through a Barcelona back line that had withstood the pressures of Chloe Kelly and Caitlin Foord for most of the match, but was now vulnerable from center-back Irene Paredes' yellow card, and found Blackstenius and her own line-breaking pace. You don't need fresh legs in order to execute that plan, but they certainly help.
That Mead and Blackstenius combined on the game-winning goal could make that substitution one of the most important in Arsenal's history. And while good coaching, the factor that in many ways defined the margin between Arsenal's victory and Barcelona's downfall, increases the chances of success in the execution of those plans, it is increasingly becoming a non-negotiable for teams vying for continental titles.
This was likely the last Champions League campaign where teams could coast on pedigree. As demonstrated by Barcelona and Olympique Lyonnais (now rebranded as the OL Lyonnes), who have won three and a record eight Champions League titles respectively, a team-building strategy that consists of little more than fastening together the best players on the continent (and sometimes beyond) is not enough to win a continental club tournament anymore.
Domestic leagues stretched apart by competition disparities are no longer Champions League luxuries, but potential liabilities. Resilience is a muscle, tough to build and quick to atrophy. Slegers attributed the team's ability to unite in their grinding out of a game, a quality forged over the campaign, as key in how they outlasted Barcelona.
'Definitely you see things this season, I think, in the team, and there are signs of a winning team,' Slegers said. 'You struggle together, you suffer together, you find ways to win, and I think in the critical moments, in high-pressure moments, we've done that this season.'
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Of the eight teams that reached the Champions League quarter-finals during the 2024-2025 season — Arsenal, Barcelona, Chelsea, Lyon, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg — three experienced coaching changes mid-season. Slegers, a former player who came up through Arsenal's academy, was promoted to interim head coach on October 15 last year immediately following the resignation of Jonas Eidevall, who now manages the San Diego Wave in the National Women's Soccer League (NSWL).
Eidevall's departure came less than a week after Arsenal lost to Bayern Munich 5-2 in the group stage of the Champions League, and three days after a 2-1 loss to Chelsea, defeats which drew the ire of the club's supporters, who were loud in their calls for his dismissal. Reflecting on that moment, he told Sky Sports in January he had 'to zoom out and understand what is about you, and what's about the team — what do the players need in this moment? I thought the easiest and quickest way to help the players perform was to remove that cloud, and that was me stepping away.'
Identifying what wasn't working and cutting the cord as early as they did seemed to benefit Arsenal, who had plenty of time to rebuild their resilience and their season under Slegers.
Manchester City and Wolfsburg's cases, by contrast, were more drawn out and occurred when both teams were deep into their tournament runs; City parted ways with Gareth Taylor on March 10, and then-Wolfsburg manager Tommy Stroot announced his resignation on April 1. By then, Slegers had settled into her January 17 appointment to head coach.
Before the final, two of the biggest Champions League shocks came from stunning quarter-final comeback victories by Arsenal and Chelsea, who each rebounded from 2-0 losses to knock Real Madrid and City out of the tournament, respectively.
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Chelsea looked strategically unprepared to deal with Barcelona across both legs of the semi-final despite the fact Barcelona's strategy rarely changes, only the ruthless precision with which they employ it. Lyon, meanwhile, succumbed to the classic golden handcuffed trap of resilience, unable to hold their 2-1 lead over Arsenal in the second leg of the semi-finals.
It's no surprise that the same high press Arsenal lodged against Lyon in their 4-1 stunner worked against Barcelona on Saturday in Lisbon.
Among the teams that topped the Women's Super League (WSL), French Division 1 Feminine and the Liga F in Spain, Chelsea recorded the slimmest goal differential at 43 (56 for, 13 against). Lyon's goal differential was 85 (92 for, seven against) and Barcelona's was 112 (128 for, 16 against) — not many opportunities to 'struggle together' or develop the musculature needed to overcome adversity before the high stakes of Champions League football enter the fray.
This summer, transfer news will be pulled into the centripetal force of the women's European Championship, but the club and player movement that has already taken place hints at the changes to come: Real Madrid captain and Spanish national Olga Carmona is departing for Paris Saint-Germain, who were knocked out of the qualifying stage of this season's Champions League; Bayern have the task of replacing head coach Alexander Straus after three league-topping seasons with the club; Chelsea have just received a massive investment to continue their pursuit of European dominance. OL Lyonnes' rebrand is unlikely to stop at its logo.
If Arsenal's remarkable run to Champions League glory tells us anything, it's that the margin between those expected to win and those who will have to stretch toward wins is thinning. The sooner a team opens itself up to evolution, through a trusted coach, the closer they'll get to success.