Arsenal produced the best performance of an English team in the history of the Women's Champions League.
Of course, other WSL parties have reached the final and an exceptional competition has been closed for this.
But Arsenal accepted the most successful team in the history of the Champions League, the powerhouses of European football, with a shortage of one goal and not only survived, but flourished by playing Lyon from the park for 20,000 fans.
It is a huge achievement for Arsenal to reach their first European final in 18 years.
View every metric in the game. They had more possession, more shots, more fit in the last third, more details in the opposition box, and especially more goals.
Lyon gave more goals against Arsenal in those 90 minutes than in the entire competition.
“I get goosebumps to think about it,” Alessia Russo told us after the game when she thinks about the performance on her side.
“How we responded after the last game … WOW … we're going to the final”.
It is an even more remarkable achievement if you think about what Arsenal has experienced this season.
It was a difficult campaign for the Gunners.
Again under performance in the WSL, beaten from both domestic cup matches and the end of the Jonas Eidevall regime could have derailed the season, and yet they are preparing for their first European final for 18 years.
Go back to October, they may not even have reached the group stage after they returned from a goal in the second qualifying round against hacking. They then lost 5-2 in the Bayern Munich group stage – a result that Eidevall would see the club leave.
The team was devoid of trust.
It is difficult to emphasize how much it is to Sleer -Sudgers.
Calm, cool and collected on the sidelines, and a coach who plans time every day in her diary for players to approach her with everything that is on their thoughts.
The team left someone who is struggling under the stress of underperformance to a side that plays with a clinical plan and yet individual freedom. They look a completely different club.
Take Russo as an example. The international of England scored only one goal in its first nine games this season, but now has 19 goals in all competitions and seven in the Champions League. Chloe Kelly was a side issue in Man City, but now she is one of the best Deadline Day Bigs ever, and she goes to her first Champions League final.
Russo scored, Mariona Caldentey inspired and Katie McCabe put her body at stake. This means everything for the players who were the underdogs who went against Lyon in this match.
There are also many players who have been to the club for a long time. Beth Mead has been there for a long time, Leah Williamson is a player with one club and of course there is Captain Fantastic Kim Little.
She was the only player who was chosen by the team after one of the best nights of the club.
Little arrived 17 years ago in Arsenal for the first time, only a season after they won what the UEFA Women's Cup was when.
Since she has become one of the best midfielders in Europe and the club has been captain since 2017.
Nevertheless, the competition in Lisbon will be its biggest night as a shooter on Saturday 24 May 2025.
England -captain Williamson stood at the front of the row to sing her praise.
“Kim Little is an incredible football player who goes under the radar,” Williamson told us in the tunnel after the game.
“She never got the chance to do that at international level. What the team did for her and the way she led us, it's pretty special.”
Little managed to stop the tears when we spoke after the game, but her eyes were watery after she finally led the club she likes for the biggest game in club football.
Now only the talented No. 10 and her teammates have to overcome the back-to-back European champions Barcelona.
After Sunday's performance in Lyon, you can't write them off.