Trailing by a goal after the first leg of their UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final against Olympique Lyonnais, Arsenal produced a sensational comeback performance in France on Sunday to see off the historic powerhouses and qualify for their first European final in 18 years.
“Our performance today was pretty exceptional,” expressed Kim Little post-match. It’s a fair assessment – the Gunners looked in complete control throughout, putting four goals past an Olympique Lyonnais side that has conceded just 7 times in their domestic league this season.
Little is nothing short of an Arsenal legend, having joined the club the season after their 2007 European triumph. She spent five years at the club before heading to Seattle Reign and Melbourne Spirit, but she returned to her North London home in 2017 and remains a fan favourite.
Qualifying for her first UEFA Women’s Champions League final is “a really special” feeling, says the 34-year-old. “Sometimes you just go day-to-day and you put in all the hard work, and then a moment like this comes and it just feels pretty special.”
“Also, to have Kelly [Smith] here who played in the 2007 final when the club was last there as well, there are lots of special moments and I can’t wait to take this club to the next one.”
Alessia Russo, who scored just seconds after the break to put the Gunners in control, echoed the sentiment.
“It means so much for the club,” she said post-match, “not only for me just joining, but for the players that have been here a long time. I feel that energy, I feel how they feel. We want it so bad and we’ll do everything we can, but we’re just going to enjoy the moment for now.”
It’s a wise plan. Beating Olympique Lyonnais is one thing – finding a way past a Barcelona side that put eight goals past Chelsea over two legs is another.
“We obviously didn’t watch the second game,” explained Little, with kick-off at Stamford Bridge coming just three hours before Arsenal’s match in Lyon got underway, “but in the first game they were pretty exceptional to watch because the way they play is so easy on the eye but so hard to stop.”
“We need to be at our best to beat them,” she continued, “but we’ve shown in the quarter-final and in the semi-final that we can do that, and that we can match the best teams in Europe. We’ll hope to do that against Barcelona in the final.”
Leah Williamson acknowledged that “most of us in the team haven’t been there [the final] before, but it’s one game. You can expect everything in the last game of the season. First time that I have ever been involved. You can expect the same gutsy performance that you saw today.”
Arsenal take on Barcelona at Lisbon’s Estádio José Alvalade in the UEFA Women’s Champions League final, with kick-off at 17:00 BST [18:00 CEST] on Saturday 24 May.