Arsenal beat Barcelona to win UEFA Women’s Champions League thanks to late Stina Blackstenius goal

Arsenal spoiled Barcelona’s coronation on top of the Champions League. The Catalan giants have some of the biggest names in the game, and were two-time defending champion and had won three of the last four tournaments in the largest international club competition in Europe, but the Gunners brought a grim underdog performance and walked away with an unlikely victory.

The decisive moment came in the 75th minute when replacement Stina Blackstenius found the corner only seven minutes after coming up on the field. The goal was assisted by England Legend and colleague Sub Beth Mead. The victory brings the trophy to Arsenal for the second time, after their triumph in the 2006-2007 edition, when the tournament was still called the UEFA Women’s Cup.

Arsenal remains the only team from England to win the tournament, in a competition that is traditionally dominated by European powerhouses. Between Barcelona and Lyon, those two teams each of the last nine Champions competitions won. Lyon, who defeated Arsenal in the semi -final in the semi -final, has won the tournament eight times a record.

The game itself saw Arsenal long tension under pressure and had to bend but not breaking defensively while they waited at their moment. Barcelona had more than two-thirds of the possession in the game and surpassed Arsenal 20-8, in which Aitana Bolmattis gathered six shots, Caroline Graham Hansen four shots and Claudia Pina four shots. But thanks to five saves from Daphne van Domselaar, Arsenal came at the top.

The victory gives Arsenal a degree of revenge for a Super League season where they ended a distant second behind Chelsea. But Chelsea was unable to overcome the Barcelona machine, with 8-2 ​​in total in the semi-final. So in this tournament Arsenal had the last smile