Arsenal Women’s Road to Lisbon: A Journey of Grit and Growth to Champions League Final

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·24 mai 2025

Arsenal Women’s Road to Lisbon: A Journey of Grit and Growth to Champions League Final

Arsenal Women’s road to Lisbon started at the first qualifying round, has seen two managers in charge, games played on dodgy pitches, fixtures in crazy weather and freezing temperatures. There has been something beautifully imperfect about their journey to Saturday’s Final.

Arsenal Women are certainly not unbeatable, they finished 12 points behind Chelsea in the WSL and in both knockout rounds in Europe had to overturn first leg defeats. Yet individually and collectively the Gunners have shown incredible resilience and character to never know when they are beaten. Qualities that they might need when facing Barcelona, who have just lifted their sixth Liga F title in a row and are the current European Champions. They have some of the best talent in the world, some English fans will remember from the last World Cup. So we are underdogs this weekend, but that has never bothered us before.

Vidéos OneFootball

Qualifiers and Early Struggles

Qualifying Round 1Arsenal 6-0 RangersNo team had ever started at this stage and made it all the way to the Final. Playing under such jeopardy in your first game of the season seems harsh. In hindsight it is perhaps the only straightforward fixture we would have in the tournament? Ford scored four times.

Arsenal 1-0 RosenborgThis was the stage we were knocked out of last season before the WSL had even kicked off, so perhaps it was understandable that this was a nervy performance.

Qualifying Round 2BK Hacken 1-0 ArsenalIn the same country where we were knocked out the year before, in a worrying trend that Jonas Eidevall would eventually not be able to change, his team struggled to break down a low block and failed to create much. It meant we started our League campaign with morale low.

Arsenal 4-0 BK HackenThe WSL campaign started in the middle of this tie and clearly the scheduling of the Champions League qualifiers is not ideal. Alessia Russo and Lia Walti started on the bench at the weekend with the second leg prioritised. Beth Mead started her first game of the season. Walti and Mead both scored. On a wet and rainy night we comfortably overturned our first leg defeat. A sign of things to come.

Turning Points, Tactical Tweaks and Breaking Through

Group StageBayern Munich 5-2 ArsenalThis was in the middle of arguably the most difficult week of the campaign, the end of which Jonas Eidevall resigned. It is believed the 41-year-old did this in reaction to a fan backlash. Showing how emotional some now are about the women’s game, ‘Jonas Out’ was graffitied on a wall nearby the Emirates while some fans held up P45 signs after this game. This seemed more a reaction to his falling out with Miedema and allowing her to leave for Man City, and not a direct response to this defeat in Germany. It was actually more competitive than the scoreline suggests, with Pernille Harder scoring a hat-trick in the final 20 minutes to take the game away from the visitors.

Arsenal 4-1 ValerengaWith respect to our Norwegian opponents, this was an ideal first game in charge for Renee Slegers after a difficult period on and off the pitch. It could also be seen as a turning point tactically for the team. While our interim manager would constantly downplay taking the job full-time, she clearly had her own ideas. The irony being she was seen as suitable for the role short term because the former Dutch player had been part of Eidevall’s staff for years, going back to their time at Rosenborg. The idea was she knew his way of playing, so the transition would be less bumpy for the squad. Crucially though, her role with the Gunners was originally Player Development Coach, meaning the 36-year-old was working one-to-one with talent at a time there were rumours of her boss losing the dressing room. Despite the win, our caretaker manager was vocally not impressed with our defending. This convinced her to move Steph Catley from left back to centre back. The team never looked back.

Juventus 0-4 ArsenalLike how three goals in the final stages in Germany made our game with Bayern Munich seem more one-sided than it was, we did the same in Italy with three goals in the final minutes. This made it five matches unbeaten under our caretaker boss but was really the result where some started to suggest Slegers could do the job full-time. The latest tactical tweak was Emily Fox at full back overlapping on the wing.

Arsenal 1-0 JuventusWith both teams having lost to Bayern Munich, this double header was always going to prove crucial. The irony was that it was a former Juventus striker who got the winner in the 89th minute. The substitute was another tactical masterstroke from Slegers, the Swede giving us some physical presence up front. The 29-year-old has been plagued by injuries since she arrived in England, so it was cool she got this moment to get Arsenal into the knockout stages.

Valerenga 1-3 ArsenalAfter a slow start to the season, Russo was on fire at this point, her double in Norway her seventh goal in her last five games. Renee Slegers again showed her tactical flexibility while giving the likes of Katie Reid her first competitive start. With qualification ensured, she tried Russo on the left side, with the 25-year-old not just impressing with her finishing but her work rate helping back to defend.

Arsenal 3-2 Bayern MunichBoth teams knew they had already qualified for the knockout stages but the Gunners needed a win to top the group. That appeared to be an incentive at least on paper, as that would mean favourites Barcelona and Chelsea being on the other half of the bracket. Coming from behind and dealing with adversity really would be a sign of things to come from this point forward. Bayern Munich led 2-1, with the home side struggling all night to deal with their threat from set pieces. Russo equalised with her 11th goal of the season before an 85th minute penalty won the game and group. The only negative aspect of the night was the fixture being moved from the Emirates as originally advertised. The game clashed with the men’s Carabao Cup tie with Crystal Palace, unable to find another date in their calendar. After the progress the women’s game has made over the years in the UK, this was a blow, especially as Arsenal’s Women had proven they could now get attendances of over 60,000. Not to worry though, the Emirates would have its night very soon.

Quarter FinalsReal Madrid 2-0 ArsenalThis was not being wise after the event, as several pundits, ex-players and reporters were dismayed at the quality of the pitch. This included the likes of Ian Wright and even the PFA getting involved. After torrential rain, many felt it was too dangerous to play on the Alfredo Di Stefano pitch. To the surprise of few, Melanie Leupolz suffered a serious knee injury. It highlighted that for all the progress in the sport for women, work still needs to be done to ensure they are treated like professionals with world class facilities. The men (ironically also facing each other) would never have been expected to play in these conditions. There would have been uproar.

Arsenal 3-0 Real MadridHighlighting how popular women’s sport continues to grow in England (something Arsenal as a club have always been at the forefront of), 22,517 were in attendance at the Emirates, a record in the country for a Champions League quarter-final. The majority in the stands would have been nervous at half-time with the game goalless. On a night where the first goal was always going to be crucial, once Russo scored, the Gunners never looked back and the visitors did not know how to respond. Suddenly we scored three in 13 minutes. This was especially a moment that felt like Chloe Kelly’s homecoming, with her struggles at Man City well documented. Two of her crosses led to goals. Coincidentally the same happened when the men played each other. At this level though, success and failure are decided by moments. It is easy to see the scoreline and forget Van Domselaar’s save on the stroke of half-time. That goes in and Real would have been 3-0 up on aggregate.

Semi FinalsArsenal 1-2 LyonThe parallels with the men’s team continued. Both faced French sides in their respective semi-finals and both lost their first leg after the visitors took away the home atmosphere by how well they kept the ball. Which was a shame as 40,000 were inside the Emirates. Like Mikel Arteta, Renee Slegers might have been relieved to still be in the tie after 90 minutes, as Lyon’s experience at times was evident. Having equalised with a controversial penalty so late on though, it was disappointing to concede four minutes later.

Lyon 1-4 ArsenalIt is hard to know the balance between how sloppy Lyon were and how brave Arsenal were. Or did Renee Slegers yet again tactically outsmart the opposition? At the very least she took them by surprise with how high we pressed and how quickly we won back the ball. It was in complete contrast to the too much respect we had shown in the first leg. The amount of times the French champions gave away possession in dangerous areas left all watching stunned. Including our own players who could not believe how simple this ended up being. 500 Gooners had made the trip to France. That would not have happened years ago.

Arsenal Women will face FC Barcelona Femení on Saturday, May 24th at the Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon, Portugal, with kick-off at 5pm UK.

Supporters can watch the action in the UK live on TNT Sports or DAZN, as well as DAZN’s YouTube stream.

COYG!!!!!

Dan Smith

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