How Arsenal’s comeback queens achieved the unthinkable

Arsenal manager Renee Slegers couldn’t believe what she had just witnessed, with gold and red confetti still visible in the background and tears streaming down her face.

Her side won the Women’s Champions League title just before the break when they stunned European giants Barcelona with a 1-0 victory in Lisbon. It was the first time in 18 years.

When Slegers was assistant manager of Arsenal when they lost the first leg of their second qualifying round tie with BK Hacken, it was hardly conceivable.

This week, Slegers’ side joined members of Arsenal’s historic victory for lunch to reflect on the occasion, which has been dominating newspapers for the past few days.

They defied the odds at the time, looking for inspiration in preparation, and knew a second title would require a near-miracle in Portugal.

Due to having to complete three rounds of qualifying, Arsenal finished third in the Women’s Super League last year.

The women’s Champions League team has won the trophy for the first time in the history of 15 games.

Few really gave Slegers’ side a chance against the defending champions, despite the title-winning goalkeeper Aitana Bonmati admitting she was “surprised” that Arsenal had defeated Lyon in the semi-finals.

Former manager Jonas Eidevall had no choice but to quit after only one win in their first four WSL games of the season, leaving their European hopes in jeopardy by Bayern Munich, and growing fan unrest.

This week, Katie McCabe and Leah Williamson, the team’s players, praised the Dutchwoman for “steadying the ship” during a difficult time.

Slegers had a big task ahead of them, and the atmosphere at Arsenal was far from positive. Players needed a lift. And she did, turning things around.

They entered the group stages with a 4-1 victory over Valerenga, and the results just kept coming.

After going unbeaten in her first 11 games under her leadership, winning 10 and drawing one, Slegers took over as interim manager in October, which took the club until mid-January.

Arsenal’s juggernaut gained momentum as the season progressed, and the Gunners advanced to the Champions League knockout stages.

Slegers and her team had already beaten each other in some ways; it appeared impossible for them to reach the final, and they had, as she stated in her pre-final program notes, “done some magical things” to do so.

Co-owner Josh Kroenke flew in from Denver to Lisbon, along with executive vice-chair Tim Lewis, managing director Richard Garlick, and director of women’s football Clare Wheatley.

Around 4,500 fans travelled from London to join them, academy players sat in the stands watching their potential futures, and club legends were invited to join them.

On Pink Street, a vibrant painted road close to Lisbon’s harbor, which was filled with color and noise, supporters had gathered.

Even Mary Earps, the England goalkeeper, had flown in with an Arsenal shirt with the name Alessia Russo’s name on the back.

Their task was to defeat a Barcelona side that was chasing a third successive European title, a team that had potential Ballon d’Or winners in almost every position and been widely criticized as the best domestic team in the world.

Barcelona ran their usual business as usual and emerged with a lot of confidence, which is understandable. Nothing about this was novel, nothing unusual, just another final.

However, Slegers had encouraged Arsenal’s confidence.

Slegers’ soothing influence, how she instilled a sense of empowerment and brought out the best in each of her players, are well known at the club.

They have spoken about being “free” and expressing their feelings; most of Russo and Kim Little’s pre-game comments focused on their “togetherness” and “belief.”

Slegers’ planning is thorough. Little claimed that they had tried to mimic Barcelona’s movements while training to learn how to combat it. They repeatedly failed before coming up with the solution.

Little, a football player, described it as the “perfect execution of a gameplan.”

Our performance demonstrated it. We had little faith in our approach because we knew we would need that, so our approach was very controlled.

Slegers did her homework. She spoke with assistant manager at Arsenal in 2007 Emma Hayes, who has faced Barcelona numerous times while at Chelsea, earlier this week.

While her staff assessed each of Barcelona’s midfielders individually, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of Bonmati, Alexia Putellas, and Patri, she had conversations with 2007-winning manager Vic Akers.

“Barcelona has a lot of weaknesses,” he said. They are very high-level. Slegers remarked, “We looked at how we could exploit it in the best way possible.”

Slegers claims that the “scary thing” is that she believes there is more to come despite everything they have accomplished this season despite the odds.

She continued, “It means a lot to everyone who has worked toward this, but it also means a lot to the future.”

It inspires us and demonstrates our abilities. You can win trophies if you play for Arsenal. That is what we intend to accomplish.

Little acknowledged that it may take a few days for their accomplishments to fully come to light, but the club may plan celebrations with fans outside Emirates Stadium on Monday.

In the 18 years it took Arsenal to replicate their success in Europe, their fan base has grown significantly, giving them a foundation to build on.

The club plans to play all of its home Women’s Super League games at Emirates Stadium in the coming season with attendances of averaging 29 000.

The Arsenal hierarchy hopes to use the draw to attract talent in the transfer window as the next step in their expansion of women’s football.

Employing four lead scouts to cover more of the global talent pool, they have examined their hiring strategy, which has struggled at times with WSL champions Chelsea’s financial power.

They are now evaluating how to use the loan system more effectively after discovering a flaw in their pipeline that has prevented some of their academy talent’s advancement.