Uefa Women’s Champions League final: Arsenal 1 (Blackstenius 74) Barcelona 0
Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe has added another priceless memory to her career after helping Arsenal to their second Women’s Champions League title.
The Gunners shocked defending champions Barcelona after substitute Stina Blackstenius struck in the second half in Lisbon, with McCabe playing the full 90 minutes.
Arsenal remain the only English side to have lifted the Women’s Champions League trophy, having also done it 18 years ago as part of their quadruple-winning season in 2007.
Arsenal had a first-half opener disallowed, but resolutely fended off waves of attack from the Liga F champions before Renee Slegers introduced Blackstenius and England forward Beth Mead.
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It proved a prescient decision by the Dutch boss after the pair combined in the 74th minute at the home of Sporting Lisbon to emphatically ink their names in the history books.
About 5,000 Arsenal fans made the trip as part of the club’s official travelling delegation, though more red shirts could be spotted in general admission.
The Women’s Super League runners-up swerved danger a few times early on, losing control of the ball inside their 18-yard box, but there were a couple of chances, too – Caitlin Foord misdirecting a header before trying to set up Chloe Kelly on the volley, the Manchester City loanee’s effort clearing the bar.
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The ball was in the back of the Barcelona net just after Slegers appeared to encourage her side to settle down, but the 21st-minute own goal – which had been charged to Irene Paredes – was chalked off after VAR determined Frida Maanum had been offside in the build-up.
The Gunners kept pressing, coming close again when Cata Coll tipped Maanum’s effort from 25 yards out over the bar.
Barca began to reassert themselves, Daphne van Domselaar called into action to deny Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati, but the deadlock remained intact at the break after Arsenal stayed resolute in defence against an increasingly-agile Barca attack that piled on more pressure after the restart.
Claudia Pina twice tried to break the deadlock, clipping the crossbar with a deflected effort early on, former Manchester United full-back Ona Batlle rifled just wide of the right post, then Batlle whistled an effort from distance over the bar just after the hour before Ewa Pajor nodded marginally over.
But it was Blackstenius, who had already been denied by Coll, who finally opened the scoring seven minutes after she replaced Maanum in the 67th minute, picked out with a brilliant reverse pass from fellow substitute Mead, before swivelling and firing across the Barca keeper into the bottom corner.
England captain Leah Williamson’s vital nodded clearance denied Barca a chance to level from a late corner.
Her side then heeded Slegers’ call to fight bravely, seeing out seven minutes of stoppage time and denying Barca the chance to become just the second team to win the competition for three successive seasons.
