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Renee Slegers, the coach of Arsenal, stated that her team would remain modest as they prepare for their Saturday women’s Champions League encounter with reigning champions Barcelona.

Arsenal reached the final in 2007 with their first victory, while the Catalan giants have won the competition three times and six of the previous seven finals.

Arsenal hope to be the sand in the gears of the Lisbon showpiece despite the fact that Barcelona are on the verge of a repeat of the quadruple from the previous season.

We will demonstrate courage tomorrow, Slegers said at a press conference, “We respect Barcelona as a team, they are really, really difficult (to face).”

We are very humble for the occasion, but we also want to win, and we must find a way to win. ”

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The 36-year-old coach, who took over Arsenal’s season after being appointed in October, warned her team to always be on the lookout for their formidable opponents.

We need to be switched on, disciplined, and courageous, and we must also believe in ourselves, Slegers said.

It’s just been so much work, but it’s all of us, the people who have done this for such a long time, to put ourselves in a position to play this game tomorrow.

We are so excited about the challenge that we will face tomorrow and how well-prepared we will all be for it. ”

Alessia Russo, the team that won the 2007 UEFA Women’s Cup, shared a lunch with the Arsenal squad earlier this week, and the player described it as having a “special” time.

The forward, who was named the football writers’ women’s player of the year earlier this month, acknowledged that any player who plays for Arsenal is aware of how successful it is and how ambitious it is to compete with the best.

We are aware of what has come before us as well, and we had lunch with some of the 2007 winners earlier this week, so understanding what it still means to them is truly special. ”

  ‘Our standard’

The 26-year-old England international has scored seven Champions League goals, finishing only behind Claudia Pino, who also leads the competition.

We are aware that Barcelona is a strong side and consistently has won.

We are capable of doing what we can as a team, and I have full faith in us. ”

In the first leg of their semi-final tussle, Arsenal lost to record-eight-time champions Lyon, but the team recovered with a remarkable 4-1 victory in France to reach the final.

Russo said, “We have spoken about belief a lot as a team, and we have also discovered a lot of ways to win this season.”

It has been a year of learning and highs and lows.

We want to keep that performance in Lyon as a benchmark for the rest of our industry.

We wanted to compete in the final because it was unique and it was a result that we needed to perform without any other options. ”

Kim Little scored the first game of the season between these teams in 2012, when Arsenal won 7-0.

The Scottish midfielder, 34, claims, “I don’t have many memories from the games, but I do remember that my friend Jenny (Beattie) scored and that I also did in one of them.”

Tomorrow, I’m hoping to make more (memories). ”

The CAF Champions League — previously called the African Cup of Champions Clubs — has produced many dramatic two-leg finals since its inception 61 years ago.

AFP Sport recalls five of them ahead of the first leg of the 2024-2025 final between Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa and Pyramids of Egypt in Pretoria on Saturday.

1976

Mouloudia Alger became the first African champions from Algeria by staging the greatest second-leg comeback in the history of the competition.

Trailing 3-0 after the first leg against title-holders Hafia of Guinea in Conakry, Mouloudia won the return match by the same score thanks to a 90th-minute goal from Omar Betrouni.

Aggregate equality meant the final went straight to penalties. The home team converted three consecutive spot kicks to win the shootout 3-1 as the visitors missed three of four attempts.

ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast were so confident of overcoming Orlando Pirates of South Africa that the government declared the first working day after the second leg a public holiday.

But the newcomers to Africa from Soweto had other ideas and a breakaway goal from Jerry Sikhosana in the second half gave Pirates a 1-0 win in Abidjan and a 3-2 overall triumph.

The match in the Ivorian commercial capital was one sided with Pirates ‘ Nigerian goalkeeper Williams Okpara and centre-backs Gavin Lane and Mark Fish repeatedly defying rampant ASEC.

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2000

Hearts of Oak became the second club from Ghana after arch rivals Asante Kotoko to become African champions, beating Esperance of Tunisia home and away for a 5-2 aggregate victory.

Esperance were leading 1-0 in the second leg in Accra after 75 minutes when goalkeeper Chokri al Ouaer deliberately injured himself and claimed he had been hit by an object from the crowd.

The bloodied shot-stopper wanted the match to be abandoned, but the South African referee waved play on and Hearts scored three times in the final seven minutes for a 3-1 second-leg victory.

2007

Tunisian club Etoile Sahel pulled off the greatest shock in the history of the competition by defeating Al Ahly of Egypt 3-1 in Cairo after a goalless first encounter.

Then president Hosni Mubarak was among the capacity 70, 000-plus crowd and no one outside Tunisia gave Etoile a chance against arguably the greatest Ahly team yet to compete in Africa.

A couple of added-time goals sealed success for Etoile and reduced Ahly icons like Essam el Hadary, Wael Gomaa, Mohamed Aboutrika, Mohamed Barakat and Emad Meteb to tears.

2010
Democratic Republic of Congo giants TP Mazembe inflicted on Esperance the heaviest defeat in one leg of a final by winning 5-0 in mining hub Lubumbashi.

Ngandu Kasongo and Zambian Given Singuluma each scored twice as the ‘ Ravens ‘ ran riot against opponents traditionally renowned for defensive strength.

Shattered Esperance changed goalkeepers for the return match, but could manage only a 1-1 draw and Mazembe celebrated back-to-back titles after edging Heartland of Nigeria the previous year.

Aitana Bonmati, a Barcelona midfielder, described the Catalans as the “catalans” as the “catalans” who have come to mind as they have become in the lead up to the women’s Champions League final game against Arsenal on Saturday.

Lyon, the record eight-time champions, lost to Barca in the final last year and last won in 2022.

In contrast, Bonmati’s Barcelona have triumphed in three of the competition’s previous four contests and advanced to six finals in seven years, establishing them as Europe’s dominant force.

“They had their path, and now we have our path,” Bonmati said, “I don’t want to compare us to Lyon.”

We used to speak very well of them, saying that many teams were their mirrors in the past, and that is now.

We are proud of our journey, and we’ll try to be even more “historical” tomorrow.

At the Lisbon-based Jose Alvalade stadium, Barcelona take on Arsenal for the first time since winning the competition in 2007, which was the UEFA Women’s Cup.

Twelve years after their 100th game against Arsenal, the Catalans will play their 100th in Europe.

The English side’s round of 32 defeats Barcelona 7-0 over two legs in the 2012-13 Champions League, with Alexia Putellas the only player to survive.

There’s no need to mention the scoreline, “laughed Putellas, who is a two-time Ballon d’Or winner, like Bonmati.”

It was impossible to imagine what would come after our first European game, which was Barca Femeni’s history, would have been… it’s incredible how much there has changed and evolved.

We recently transitioned to professionalism, and we made it to the top six. I consider myself fortunate to have traveled this route.

With this trophy in hand, the first game was against Arsenal, and tomorrow’s is also that way.

After losing to Levante and Real Madrid in the league for the first time in a loss to their Clasico rival, Barcelona faced criticism earlier in the season.

After defeating English treble-winning Chelsea 8-2 on aggregate, Putellas claimed the team was in excellent form for the game against Renee Slegers’ side.

We leave (at the end) feeling very good, have a lot of energy, and have worked well all year, Putellas said.

We feel good both physically and mentally about our game play.

However, she claimed that Barca won’t take a victory for granted just because it has a long history.

The playmaker added, “We’ve won three Champions Leagues, but that doesn’t mean we start one game up 1-0 tomorrow.”

We’ll leave our skins on to take home the trophy.

Last year, Barcelona won the quadruple under Pere Romeu, who left at the end of the season and replaced Jonatan Giraldez.

The team has already won Liga F and the Spanish Super Cup, but it took them some time to come up with their best level.

The coach remarked, “It’s a special game because it’s a final.”

This team has worked well in the past, has a lot of work done this week, and has spoken to all the staff, which gives me the (feel of) security that we’ll do well.

“We have to go out there and try to dominate,” he said.