All season in Europe, the unthinkable. In Lisbon, a dream realised. With victory over Barcelona in the Women’s Champions League final Renee Slegers ended not only Arsenal’s wait for a first European trophy since 2007 – she made a statement on behalf of English football.
No British side had won this competition in the last 18 years, Chelsea coming closest in 2021 but eclipsed by the same opposition as the Gunners faced on Saturday evening.
Just months ago, few would have expected it to be Slegers’ side representing the Women’s Super League on the biggest stage at all.
They began the campaign by conceding five to Bayern Munich – partly the impetus for Eidevall’s departure before his former assistant Slegers would take over. To overcome Real Madrid in the quarters, they had to come from two goals down to win 3-2 and then lost the first leg of their semi-final at home to Lyon.
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There are two ways of looking at a run like that. All her players speak of the confidence Slegers has instilled in this group and the fact Arsenal so often looked like crashing out of Europe only added to the feeling that their name might just have been on the trophy before kick-off.
The other is that Arsenal rode their luck after suffering a series of reality checks. The WSL has grown phenomenally in the past half-decade but English sides kept failing to get over the line on the continent – until now.
That conversation was being had when Chelsea were beaten 4-0 in the 2021 final and then came the 2023 World Cup final, when England were narrowly beaten by Spain – on paper – but technically outclassed. There was an admission afterwards that it had sounded alarm bells at the gulf between the elite levels of the two countries – that takes a long time to bridge but we are now just over a month out from Euro 2025.
England head to Switzerland as defending champions but the consensus is that it will be even tougher than the tournament they won in 2022. Expect no 7-0s against Norway, with so many nations vastly improving in the intervening years. Spain are expected to be the main competition and yet Arsenal have made a huge statement on behalf of the Lionesses against a Barcelona team made up of eight Spanish internationals.
England recently managed a 1-0 win over Spain in the Nations League but the Champions League final almost felt as big a litmus test, an opportunity to see how Leah Williamson would contain Spain’s attack and at the other end, how Alessia Russo, Chloe Kelly and Beth Mead would trouble the back line. In the end it was Sweden’s Stina Blackstenius whose goal made the difference.
Arsenal made a huge statement to the rest of Europe (Photo: Getty)Slegers’ presence on the touchline was also a reminder that the WSL can attract some of the game’s most promising coaches.
In Slegers, at least, English football can boast one of the women’s game’s most promising coaches. The Dutchwoman, 36, has attracted comparisons with Sarina Wiegman since taking over from Eidevall – having already won two league titles in Sweden with Rosengard.
The next test will be whether she can bridge the gap domestically. Chelsea’s dominance is remarkable, not least because they have got even better since Sonia Bompastor’s arrival as they completed another Treble with their FA Cup final win over Manchester United last weekend.
Yet it is not a healthy precedent, nor is the near impossibility of newly promoted clubs staying in the WSL. Arsenal have finally ended a near two-decade curse but there is still plenty of work to do.
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