Arsenal produced the finest performance from an English team in the history of the Women’s Champions League.
Sure, other WSL sides have reached the final before and knocked-off exceptional competition to do so.
But Arsenal took on the most successful team in the history of the Champions League, the powerhouses of European football, with a one-goal deficit and not only survived, but thrived by playing Lyon off the park in front of 20,000 fans.
It’s a huge achievement for Arsenal to get to their first European final in 18 years.
Look at every single metric in the game. They had more possession, more shots, more passes in the final third, more touches in the opposition box, and most importantly, more goals.
Lyon conceded more goals in those 90 minutes against Arsenal than they did in the whole competition.
“I’m getting goosebumps thinking about it,” Alessia Russo told us after the game when thinking about her side’s achievement.
“How we responded after the last game… wow… we’re going to the final”.
Chloe Kelly and Arsenal coach Renee Slegers hug
It’s an even more remarkable achievement when you think about what Arsenal have been through this season.
It’s been a hard campaign for the Gunners.
Underachieving again in the WSL, knocked out of both domestic cup competitions and the end of the Jonas Eidevall reign could have derailed the season, and yet here they are preparing for their first European final for 18 years.
Go back to October, they might not have even reached the group phase after coming back from a goal down in the second round of qualifying against Hacken. They then lost 5-2 in the group phase to Bayern Munich – a result that would see Eidevall leave the club.
The team was bereft of confidence.
It’s difficult to stress how much of this is down to Renee Slegers.
Calm, cool and collected on the sidelines, and a coach that schedules time in her diary every day for players to approach her with anything on their mind.
The squad’s gone from one struggling under the stress of underperformance to a side playing with a clinical plan yet individual freedom. They look a completely different club.
Take Russo as a example. The England international scored just one goal in her first nine games this season but now has 19 goals in all competitions and seven in the Champions League. Chloe Kelly was an afterthought at Man City but now she’s one of the best Deadline Day signings ever, and she’s heading to her first Champions League final.
Arsenal’s Alessia Russo scores her side’s third goal
Russo scored, Mariona Caldentey inspired and Katie McCabe put her body on the line. This means everything to the players, who were the underdogs going into this game against Lyon.
There are also a lot of players who have been at the club a long time. Beth Mead’s been there a long time, Leah Williamson is a one-club player and of course there’s captain fantastic Kim Little.
She was the only player singled out by the squad after one of the club’s finest nights.
Little first arrived at Arsenal 17 years ago, just a season after they won what was then the UEFA Women’s Cup.
Since the she’s gone on to become one of the best midfielders in Europe and has captained the club since 2017.
Yet the game in Lisbon on Saturday May 24, 2025 will be her biggest night as a Gunner.
England captain Williamson was at the front of the queue to sing her praises.
“Kim Little is an unbelievable footballer that goes under the radar,” Williamson told us in the tunnel after the game.
“She never got a chance to do that at international level. What the team did for her and the way she led us, it’s pretty special.”
Little managed to hold back the tears when we spoke after the game but her eyes were watery after finally leading the club she loves to the biggest game in club football.
Now all the talented No 10 and her team-mates need to do is overcome the back-to-back European champions Barcelona.
After Sunday’s performance in Lyon, you can’t write them off.
