Arsenal return to European summit

A full 18 years on from victory in the UEFA Women's Cup, Arsenal claimed their and England's second title as they thwarted Barcelona's bid for a third straight UEFA Women's Champions League final triumph in Lisbon.

Arsenal began in round 1, from which no team had previously advanced even to the final, and played an unprecedented 15 matches in their campaign. It was quite the contrast to a year earlier when the Gunners lost in the round 1 final on penalties to Paris FC, the first time in their 16 entries to date that Arsenal had not at least reached the last eight.

Round 1 still took its share of victims in 2024/25, including Ajax, who made the last eight the year before, and three more teams fell in round 2 within months of getting to the quarter-finals, Paris Saint-Germain (who reached the semis in 23/24), Benfica (to Hammarby, like Galatasaray getting to the group stage on debut) and Häcken.

Häcken lost to Arsenal, who were beaten in the first leg, and the comeback theme was strong in the Gunners' run. On Matchday 1 of the last group stage in this format they fell 5-2 to Bayern but Renée Slegers then took charge, initially on an interim basis, and oversaw five wins as Arsenal topped the group.

Barcelona also recovered from losing the opening game of their title defence 2-0 at Manchester City to finish first, while Lyon and Chelsea both got maximum six wins, going through ahead of Wolfsburg and Real Madrid respectively. Celtic were the first Scottish side to reach the group stage, Galatasaray also earning Türkiye's debut.

All the group winners progressed from the quarter-finals (the first to feature three clubs from one nation, in England), but both London sides needed to overturn 2-0 deficits. Arsenal, who along with Lyon were in a joint-record 16th last-eight tie, were the only club ever to recover from a two-goal defeat before at this stage, against Torres Terra Sarda in 2004/05, but a 3-0 second-leg win against Madrid kept their campaign going, and the next night Chelsea defeated Man City in similar style.

Chelsea were now managed by Sonia Bompastor, beaten by Barcelona in the 2024 final as Lyon coach two years after defeating them for the title. And for the third year running Barcelona and Chelsea were matched in the last four, but after having won the previous match-ups 2-1 on aggregate, the Blaugrana (in a record seventh semi-final in a row) were at their very best in beating the Blues 4-1 in both legs this time.

Arsenal, meanwhile, were left having to overturn an unprecedented third first-leg deficit after a 2-1 home defeat by Lyon. But the Gunners went to France and won 4-1 to book a final date with Barcelona in Lisbon.

Barcelona, in a joint record fifth straight final, were favourites, but Arsenal were far from overawed and scored the only goal of the final with 16 minutes to go when Beth Mead set up fellow substitute Stina Blackstenius. Mariona Caldentey, who joined Arsenal from Barcelona the previous summer, enjoyed her third consecutive final victory.

Aitana Bonmatí was named Player of the Season, also for the third year running, and just as in 2023/24, Lyon's Melchie Dumornay was Young Player of the Season. Aitana's Barcelona colleague Clàudia Pina was top scorer on ten goals.