Arsenal win 'ultimate trophy' with 'more to come'

Captain Kim Little says Arsenal's Women's Champions League triumph is the "best moment" of her career, portion Gunners manager Renee Slegers believes this is conscionable the commencement for the club.

Substitute Stina Blackstenius scored the lone extremity arsenic Arsenal bushed reigning champions Barcelona 1-0 in the Lisbon final.

It is simply a 2nd rubric for the lone English women's broadside to beryllium champions of Europe, adding to their 2007 victory.

"It felt similar this was our year," said Little. "It's genuinely special, winning the eventual trophy.

"It's decidedly the champion infinitesimal of my career. I've been astatine the nine a agelong clip - I signed a twelvemonth aft they won successful 2007 truthful to inactive beryllium astatine the nine and spot however overmuch it has done to advancement the women's game, it's precise special."

This was a trophy the Gunners could not person expected to triumph erstwhile they began the contention successful the archetypal qualifying circular backmost successful September.

The last was their 15th lucifer of a rollercoaster campaign.

A humiliating 5-2 nonaccomplishment to Bayern Munich successful October was then-manager Jonas Eidevall's past European crippled successful complaint with Slegers moving up from adjunct coach, firstly arsenic interim manager earlier being awarded the occupation connected a full-time ground successful January.

"It's been a fantastic time," she said. "There are truthful galore things that person happened and truthful galore hard times we've gone done together. We've ever fought backmost and the content was increasing each azygous day.

"Of people we're going to bespeak and instrumentality it in. We've achieved thing tremendous but there's adjacent much successful this team. That's astir the scary part."

Little and England skipper Leah Williamson were 2 of the Gunners champion players successful Portugal and they jointly lifted the trophy amid the celebrations connected the pitch.

For Williamson, who held the Women's Euros trophy aloft 3 years agone pursuing England's 2-1 triumph implicit Germany astatine Wembley, it was a peculiar infinitesimal astatine the nine she has ever supported.

When Arsenal won the rubric successful 2007, a 10-year-old Williamson had been 1 of the mascots for the 2nd limb lucifer against Swedish broadside Umea.

"Eighteen years is simply a agelong clip to hold for something," said the present 28-year-old. "I've won each home trophy with Arsenal present truthful connected a idiosyncratic level I'm arrogant of that.

"We turned up to effort and bash a occupation and we did it and we're taking the trophy home. I person a regularisation not to look astatine the scoreboard and I broke it 3 times."

Barcelona, who won the contention successful each of the past 2 seasons, enactment Arsenal nether unit for ample parts of the final.

However, the 67th-minute instauration of Beth Mead and Blackstenius proved important arsenic the England guardant acceptable up the Swede to people the winning goal.

"A batch of blessed tears," said an affectional Mead, who celebrated with her family. "I'm arrogant of being capable to bash what we did and spot my dada astatine the end.

"It's been a unsmooth fewer years, evidently missing my mum [who passed distant successful January 2023] and it's the archetypal clip I've had a large last without her being here. She precise overmuch was watching implicit me."

Former Gunners defender Jen Beattie said: "Arsenal came into this arsenic implicit underdogs. You're talking astir a squad that has dominated, won the past 2 Champions Leagues, stormed to the final, unthinkable aggregate scores against Bayern Munich and Chelsea - who dominated the WSL this year.

"To triumph the Champions League, you're marking your spot successful history. They volition go legends."

Former England midfielder Izzy Christiansen, speaking connected BBC Radio 5 Live, said: "I honestly could not beryllium happier for Arsenal. This is an outrageous achievement.

"Against the European champions, to execute the gameplan to the cleanable grade of measurement. The processes were determination and the prime was there. They produced the unthinkable, they destroyed Barcelona.

"Arsenal defended similar existent warriors and it is the astir unthinkable story. They merit each ounce of this. Nobody volition judge the interaction this volition have."

Karen Carney was portion of the Arsenal broadside that won the 2007 rubric and felt the Gunners' latest accomplishment would motivate aboriginal generations.

"Maybe this radical has inspired the adjacent small miss to deliberation she tin spell and triumph a Champions League," she said.

"I support going backmost to Leah Williamson being a ballgirl. Who's going to beryllium that adjacent small miss to assistance it? It's perfectly brilliant."

Arsenal’s triumph volition beryllium celebrated with an lawsuit astatine Armoury Square Monday.

Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright, speaking connected TNT Sports, said the accomplishment had "saved the club" aft the "embarrassment" of the men's broadside failing to triumph a trophy successful 2024-25.

He added: "We've got thing to celebrate. Of people they request a parade.

"Nobody gave them a chance. Even I was saying it's going to beryllium tough.

"They [Barcelona] mean 4 goals a game.

"We needed to people goals to marque definite we bushed them, successful the extremity it was lone one. Everyone wrote them off. They merit everything they are getting, each the accolades.

"This is simply a magnificent achievement. Look however acold it's come. I retrieve erstwhile the Champions League was astatine Boreham Wood. Look wherever we are and Arsenal winning it, it's amazing."