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Leah Williamson, age 10, walked out as mascot alongside her heroes the last time Arsenal reached the Women’s Champions League final.

In 18 years, Williamson, a key player for the Gunners, will take to the pitch for the showpiece game against Barcelona.

In the first and only other English club to win the trophy at Meadow Park that day, Arsenal defeated Swedish side Umea 1-0.

Williamson told BBC Sport’s Jo Currie, “I remember Borehamwood rocking.” “I just recall that people were present everywhere. I was upset that I didn’t join the away team because it wasn’t in their plans to leave.

I remember watching my teammate and thinking, “Arsenal were going to go and win,” which I think is a wonderful thing to grow up with as a fan.

“Good day,” I said. For the club and for everyone else, I recall it. I just recall that everyone was exuberant, which is what awards do.

Williamson made her senior debut the day after turning 17 on her Arsenal debut at the age of eight.

She has won seven major awards, but her full-circle moment would be when she was crowned a European champion with her childhood club in 18 years.

Williamson continued, “It’s really nice for me to reflect on.” Never did I think that I would become a professional football player. I continued to pursue my passions and pursue what I love.

Barcelona, Europe’s dominant force, who are chasing a fourth successive Champions League title, will be in Arsenal’s path on Saturday.

Williamson said Arsenal should hope that their underdog status works to their advantage after Chelsea’s brutal 8-2 aggregate semi-final defeat by the Catalan giants.

Given what they have accomplished in the last three years of the competition, she said, “On paper, I’m not surprised because it would be disrespectful to think any other way.”

Everyone who speaks of Barcelona is very respectful and humble about how successful they are as a football club. We’re going [there] to triumph. In that regard, it’s not an underdog mentality.

“We have just one game to play before the trophy is offered,” he said. 100% of the time, we are confident in our ability to succeed there.

The 50, 095 capacity Jose Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon, the home of men’s side Sporting, will host Saturday’s game.

That alone demonstrates how far the game has come since Williamson became the team’s mascot in front of 3, 467 spectators at Meadow Park in 2007.

Williamson anticipates that winning the Champions League will result in another rise in domestic game popularity after leading England to the European Championship title in 2022.

She said, “I believe it would have a similar effect.” “I think the interest levels, the idea that you can watch your team, who are tops in the world, are very appealing.

Given how long it has been since our English teams have recently performed really well and advanced, it would be incredible to see how they have done so much and how far they have gone.

“I’m very happy to play for a team with such a rich history. When you are the player who leaves the field, you are responsible for the legacy that has permeated your past behind the badge.

Arne Slot, the head coach of Liverpool, says excuses are “for teams that don’t win the league,” and that it’s “nice” that his team won the Premier League, so he can rely on them.

Reflecting on leading the club to a 20th top-flight title in his first year since succeeding Jurgen Klopp, the Dutchman told BBC Sport of his pride it had been achieved despite some challenges.

“All these justifications you could give Liverpool,” he said, “with us maybe not spending… or not bringing in new players, or taking over from someone.”

“All these things are excuses for teams that don’t win the league, and it’s nice that if you have all these excuses, that you don’t have to use them, but you still just won it”.

Without making any significant improvements to the squad Slot inherited, which he claimed made it “probably even more special,” Liverpool won the title.

And he drew comparisons with his time at Feyenoord, where he won the Eredivisie in 2023 despite an overhaul of his team.

He said, “I did it now in two different ways and in different leagues.”

Earlier this week, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta lamented how “red cards and injuries” had impacted on their title bid.

Important player injuries have also been cited by Pep Guardiola, the manager, as the absence of a sustained challenge from defending champions Manchester City.

In a wide-ranging interview conducted at the club’s training ground before Liverpool’s final match of the season against Crystal Palace on Sunday, Slot also spoke of:

Liverpool clinched their second title in five years with a month of the season to spare, and go into the final weekend with a 12-point lead over nearest challengers Arsenal.

Arteta has emphasized that Arsenal and Liverpool both managed 89 and 84 points in each of the previous two years but finished second overall while Liverpool had 82 when they won the title.

Asked about the Spaniard’s comments, Slot said: “Everybody has the right to have his own opinion… what he meant was: ‘ Sometimes you have to be in the right place at the right time. ‘

In that regard, I completely agree with him. Only not in a Premier League season. In a Champions League, FA Cup, or World Cup, the theme is “at the right moment, in the right place.”

“In a season that’s so long, then normally the best team wins the league”.

Because it is “even more challenging,” Slot said he would prefer to win the Premier League over the Champions League after the season.

He said: “You can reach a final with good luck, and you can never win a league with only having a lot of luck.

“Maybe it was a little lucky that City experienced a challenging period for the first time in five years. But we were also part of that difficult period, because we beat them at home]when] they had already lost a few… and we didn’t have one, and that’s what you need when you want to win a league like this.

The French champions have since gone on to beat Aston Villa and Arsenal en route to the final, where they will face Inter Milan on 31 May.

Liverpool won seven of their eight games, including a victory over Real Madrid, in the new-look competition’s league phase.

“We were very unlucky that we had to play PSG in March, because in this country we don’t have a winter break”, Slot said.

“We had to play all these difficult games between November and March, with Real Madrid games, City games, and all of them.”

” And then at the end of that period we had to play one team that can play just as intense as we can, only they had a winter break and we were in the end of a four-month period.

“I believe it would have been better if we had played them in April.

When asked how he had set about building on the work done by Klopp after Liverpool ended the 2023-24 Premier League season nine points behind Manchester City in third, Slot said:” Of course it helps, if you outperform at a club like Feyenoord.

I had a lot of confidence because Jurgen left this club, this team, in a great position because they didn’t just let me in to win the league.

Klopp won eight trophies in his time on Merseyside, including the Premier League title in 2020 and a Champions League win the previous year.

“It’s been a joy to step into this team’s culture and the way people work together,” Slot said.

“I didn’t have to first get the discipline going – these guys were so disciplined and working so hard, and I saw already that there was a lot of quality over here.

You can have confidence that we can defeat any team because of how they prepare themselves, how they are prepared for every game, every three days.

“What we needed to do was do a few things better”.

Slot claimed that his goal at Anfield was to win the Champions League.

“And like you see now, that’s not an easy task in this country, because so many very good teams are competing for that”, he said.

However, I realized right away that the players were working with me, and that was only two weeks before the season’s start.

Winning the title, he said, was “an achievement that we hoped for”.

We put in a lot of effort, he continued, but it would be a bit too much to say we expected it.

Nevertheless, the season will end with Monday’s bus parade to mark Liverpool’s record-equalling 20th title.

According to Slot, “I believe these will be one of the most special moments in your life, professional or otherwise,” he said.

Celebrating Feyenoord’s title success with 100, 000 people had been “very special”, he said, but “to do it with a multiple of that will probably be a once-in-a-lifetime experience”.

England defender Alexander-Arnold will end a 20-year association with Liverpool after Sunday’s match.

The 26-year-old Liverpudlian is expected to join Real Madrid and has chosen not to renew his contract.

Alexander-Arnold has won the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, EFL Cup, Super Cup and Club World Cup with Liverpool, and for some fans his departure has bitten hard – his appearances since announcing he would leave have been against a backdrop of some booing.

When asked what kind of reception does Alexander-Arnold hope will receive when he receives his title-winning medal on Sunday, Slot said, “I hope the same for every other player who contributed to our winning the league, that every player receives the reception they deserve.

” All have worked so hard, not only this season, but throughout their careers to achieve something like this. They did it for themselves, but our fans also contributed.

“It would be fantastic, if it’s only going to be a positive moment for everyone at the club, and Trent is part of that.

There was much rumor that the club could lose three key players at once as the contracts for Egypt’s Salah and the Netherlands’ Van Dijk were set to expire at the end of the season.

However, new deals for Salah and Van Dijk were announced last month, much to fans ‘ relief.

When asked how much of the negotiations between Salah and Van Dijk he had with the club, he responded, “80% was done by the club, separate, but they kept me informed.

“But I like the idea that all those contract things are not done by me, but by someone else, because in this league you need all of your time to prepare your team for the upcoming game. I haven’t had to work through it because the players haven’t had to work through it.

” If it had been difficult for the players, then I would have spent a lot of time talking to them and getting them ready for the next game.

“We can do something special over here,” I believe because we thought we were trying until the end of the Champions League and for the Premier League, and that helped the players stay focused.”

Does saying that to a player of that status come with risk?

“I’m not so stupid that I just say this out of the blue,” Slot said. And I think I’m smart enough, and I think the main thing you have to do as a manager, if you want to bring your message across… you have to do this in the right way.

“So it wasn’t just that; I probably gave him 15 compliments during that conversation before showing him how he handled the warm-up.”

Slot acknowledged that at that point of pre-season, Salah was largely training with academy players, and added: “I could even understand him thinking, ‘ is all of this necessary? ‘

I believe that the way your message is conveyed can be changed by managers, not so much by our tactics because everyone has effective tactics, but rather by how you communicate your message to the players?

Both Arsenal and Manchester City will be expected to be among Liverpool’s rivals for next season’s title – with both clubs also expected to spend big in the summer.

After spending a sizable amount of money on transfers in the previous year, Slot was prompted to consider doing the same. If so, which positions.

Like Guardiola, he is concerned at the impact of having too big a squad.

Slot responded, “I think the question that arises is, Does a player who doesn’t play that much want to stay at a club where he’s not playing that much?”

” I always say that to be on the bench for one season is already difficult – to not play a lot two seasons in a row is almost impossible, so it’s not only what I want, it’s also what the player wants. “

He is aware that Liverpool will need to purchase additional players to compete, but he acknowledges that it may not be possible to acquire the targets he wants.

” City will probably strengthen the squad again. Arsenal is planning the same, according to the rumor, so it would be foolish if we weren’t attempting to strengthen the squad as well, he said.

” Again, I’ve said it many times, it’s not that easy because this team has already won the league. So to find players who can strengthen us might not be that difficult because there are some players in the world who I believe would be nice if they came.

“But they’re also playing at clubs where they don’t want to leave. We will try to get the few things that are available to us, so there aren’t many who can strengthen us.

In retaliation for his 38th birthday, Novak Djokovic defeated Matteo Arnaldi to reach the semi-finals of the Geneva Open.

In a third straight defeat for the Serb great in a mixed clay-court season, Djokovic lost to the Italian in April.

However, Djokovic overcame a dub to defeat Arnaldi 6-4, 6-4, and continue his French Open preparations in a positive way.

He will face semi-finalist Cameron Norrie, who defeated Australian Alexei Popyrin 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 in a spectacular comeback.

The Briton will take comfort from his first semi-final appearance of the year despite the daunting prospect of facing Djokovic.

However, it didn’t go well because he was 5-3 up against Popyrin in the opening set before impressively turning the tables and drawing level before forcing the tiebreak.

After a few frightful scares, Popyrin found himself much more composed in the second set as he struggled to control the tennis Norrie was playing.

After the game, Norrie commented, “I was a little nervous going in.” “This was one of my biggest matches this year,” I said. Extremely cold and difficult conditions were present. How I found my flow was really inspiring.

It took a lot of mental shifts to just really enjoy things more and not to have so much expectation. A positive outcome is that the body is moving. I’m just having fun, which I believe is a good thing.

“Playing Djokovic doesn’t get any easier.”

Djokovic’s first clay victory came on Wednesday against Marton Fucsovics, who had earlier won the “Gold Slam” at the Paris Olympics last summer.

He is now two wins away from winning the 100th ATP Tour singles title, a feat that only Jimmy Connors and Roger Federer did in the Open era.

“I reached the semi-finals last year. Following his on-court interview, Djokovic was presented with a birthday cake and hoped to take it one step further this year.

“I believe I’m playing really good tennis,” he said. The court was extremely tense today.

With the French Open kicking off on Sunday, he made amends for his defeat to Arnaldi with another timely victory before his most recent attempt to win an unbroken 25th Grand Slam title.

After a sluggish start to the year, Djokovic had to take the win, but it was obvious how much more success came before the year’s second slam was meant to him.

Djokovic’s immediate exits from the Miami Open final in Madrid and Monte Carlo in March, according to his own words, had him confronting a “new reality” as he attempts to make more history in the twilight of his career.

He made a strong start in the second set against Arnaldi, who had already broken up the first set. The second set was more uneventful.

After going 4-1 down, Djokovic briefly appeared to experience some discomfort on his knee, which required surgery last June.

After releasing his frustration on his racquet, he made a remarkable recovery.

He quickly ripped Arnaldi’s hand, reeling off five games in a row to win in an hour and 40 minutes before receiving his cake and being sung to by the crowd.

Joe Cokanasiga, the Bath winger, said he feels more “hunger” this season and that his English career is not over.

The 27-year-old was left out of the World Cup squad that autumn after being capped 16 times by England but hasn’t played since August 2023.

Cokanasiga has ten try-scorers in total this year, making it Bath’s joint-leading try-scorer.

Because I’ve been away for so long, I felt more motivated to play for England again this year. According to Cokanasiga, “it happens, it happens.”

I spoke to Steve [Borthwick, England head coach] the other day, and I have to put my club first because that’s what I have to think about.

Before being called up to the senior squad by Eddie Jones in 2017, Cokanasiga, who was born in Fiji, represented England at the under-18 and under-20 levels.

At the age of 19, he made his Test debut by winning the matches against Japan and Australia the following day.

He claims to be a much more consistent “player” now than he was when he won his last cap, scoring 13 tries overall in 16 games.

The high ball was the main area of improvement because, in my opinion, it was the main factor in my decision not to participate in the World Cup.

“It was a blessing in disguise for me because I came back and worked so hard on that and just kept going over my hand-eye.”

He ran from deep in his own half after Max Ojomoh’s interception to score a stunning try last weekend as Leicester won the league game 43-15.

Johann van Graan, the head of rugby at Bath, described Cokanasiga as a “more rounded player” throughout his time at the club.

He is by far the biggest winger I’ve trained, but Joe has this incredible ability to score tries and a desire to improve, he said.

We identified some areas of his game that he needs to improve, and he has become a much better overall player.

Cokanasiga acknowledged that as he gained more experience, his consistency across the pitch increased.

He said, “As I get older, my priorities have changed in terms of how I need to play the game.”

Then there are people like [Bath attack coach] Lee Blackett, who have a different perspective on the game than I do, and that has greatly improved my game.

Johann is a person I can approach and talk to about anything and let everything out. Lee and JP Ferreira, the defense coach, can be just as open to talking to him.