Driven by former Barcelona star Mariona Caldentey, Arsenal has to disrupt the opportunities against the all-conquering Catalan giants on Saturday to prevent them from winning a fourth Women's Champions League title.
Barcelona reached their sixth final in seven years and wants to sharpen their play on the women's game in the Jose Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon in Lisbon opposite Renee Slee -Zijde.
The Dutch coach replaced Jonas Eidevall on an interim basis in October, made it permanently in January because the form of the team improved dramatically under her.
In the Champions League, Arsenal produced an exciting quarter-final comeback for second legs to eliminate Real Madrid and then records eight times winners Lyon 4-1 in France to reach the final.
While Lyon is the record holders, Barcelona is the dominant power of Europe in the past five years.
The Catalans illuminated their fifth consecutive final by destroying the English inland Treble winners Chelsea 8-2.
Barcelona, ​​who won the Champions League in 2021, 2023 and 2024, also sealed a sixth-following League F victory and is well placed to repeat the four-fold quadruple.
They have two -time balloon d'Or winners Aitana Bossi and Alexia Putellas, as well as a range of other stars, although they have also lost a number of important players.
One is winger Mariona Caldentey, a fixed value for Barcelona in the past decade that went looking for a new adventure.
The 29-year-old came to Arsenal in July and became the most important player of the team, called the Women's Super League player of the season.
“She gave us that next level,” said Slees. “She is a total football player. She has everything. “
Barca wing player Caroline Graham Hansen said it will be strange to the Spaniard.
“It is clear that she was missed because she is a very nice person in the dressing room and a fantastic player on the field,” said the Norwegian.
“So it's strange to see her on the other side …
“(Hopefully) I don't see any goals from her on Saturday.”
Caldentey of course has other plans.
“I hope I can score, but I wouldn't celebrate,” she told Mundo Deportivo.
“I have a lot of respect for Barca for everything they gave me, how they helped me, and I will always show that respect.”
Although Barcelona has three Champions League trophies in four years, Arsenal only won the competition once, when it was the UEFA Women's Cup in 2007.
This has since been their first Champions League final.
Back to the beginning
The final is the 100th European match of Barcelona, ​​13 years after their first, also against Arsenal.
At the time, the Gunners were a much greater power than their opponents and ran to a 7-0 total victory over Barcelona in the Champions League round of 32.
Kim Little scored in that draw and should for Arsenal in the final, together with the only other survivor from that time – Barca's Putellas.
This season the Barcelona took some time to find their best under Coach Pereuu, after Jonatan Giraldez had left for the Washington Spirit of the US at the end of last season.
The Catalans also had to adapt to a new striker, Poland Ewa Pajor, who this season scored an impressive 43 goals in 45 games.
“It is my dream to win this trophy with this team, but we have to be calm, not obsessive about this trophy,” Pajor told UEFA.
“We must be prepared, focused and I hope we win this trophy as a team, because we have great, great players, great coaches and, yes, we can.”
Barcelona has won their last nine Champions League matches and scored 44 goals in the process, a shy by Wolfsburg's record 45 in the 2013-14 season.
Claudia Pina has been performed to fill the gap that has been left by Caldentey and scored 10, making it the top scorer of the competition, for the Alessia Russo of Arsenal and Caldentey on seven.