Daphne van Domselaar, Victoria Pelova, and coach Renée Slegers won the Champions League with Arsenal on Saturday. The London team was too strong for FC Barcelona in the final, winning 1-0.
Stina Blackstenius scored the only goal of the evening in Lisbon. The Swede, who had come on as a substitute a few minutes earlier, scored a quarter of an hour before the end after a cleared corner.
Arsenal thought they had taken the lead halfway through the first half when FC Barcelona defender Irene Paredes put the ball in her own net. Paredes got away lightly, because after intervention from VAR, the goal was disallowed for offside earlier in the attack.
Van Domselaar was in goal for Arsenal for the entire match. Pelova remained on the bench for ‘The Gunners’. For FC Barcelona, Esmee Brugts came on twelve minutes before the end.
Arsenal has won the Champions League for the second time. In 2007, ‘The Gunners’ won the European club tournament for the first time. Back then, it was still called the Women’s Cup.
Slegers is the first Dutch coach to win the champions League
Slegers is the first Dutch coach to win the Champions League in women’s football. The 36-year-old from Brabant was still assistant coach to Jonas Eidevall in the first group match against Bayern Munich.
In total, seven Dutch players have now won the Champions League. Van Domselaar and Pelova follow in the footsteps of Shanice van de Sanden, Lieke Martens, Brugts, Damaris Egurrola and Daniëlle van de Donk.
FC Barcelona has been in the Champions League final every time for the last five years. In 2021, 2023 and 2024, the Spaniards won the tournament, and in 2022 they lost the final.