What Happened: Arsenal make history, Barcelona embarrass Chelsea, and Palace relegated

Flo Lloyd-Hughes takes a look at some of the big stories in women's football and highlights the latest pieces to read on The Cutback

Credit: Getty Images

Welcome to the latest edition of What Happened, The Cutback’s weekly newsletter that sums up some of the big stories from the weekend of women’s football.

This newsletter will always be free to read and lands in your inboxes every Monday.

There was good news for one English team in the Champions League as Arsenal overturned a 2-1 deficit in sensational style to beat Lyon 5-3 on aggregate and make it to next month’s final in Lisbon. It’s Arsenal’s first final since they won a European title back in 2007 and it is a seismic moment in the Renee Slegers era. More on that and Chelsea’s embarrassing back-to-back 4-1 defeats (8-2 agg) against Barcelona below.

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In today’s issue: Arsenal’s big moment, Chelsea’s shocking semi-final, poor Palace

A new Arsenal era

For so long, Arsenal have been living in the shadow of the legendary 2007 side that won the UEFA Women’s Cup against Swedish side Umea IK. The team that rose to the top of European football, albeit the competition and standard was very different back then, was so dominant they went unbeaten from 2003 to 2009.

Since then, Arsenal have had plenty of nearly moments in Europe, getting to the last eight of the Champions League on several occasions and even making it to the last four in the 2022-23 season, but they had never managed to get back to a final, until now.

Slegers’ team put in a performance that the iconic 2007 Arsenal team would be envious of. They were dominant in every aspect. Never having to ride their luck, with the only period of pressure from Lyon coming in the last 15 minutes when they were desperately trying to rescue the game.

In the first leg, Arsenal had shown they could create chances but were wasteful with the opportunities. They also looked weak in transition and allowed Lyon’s front three to carve them open on the break. On Sunday, Arsenal would make every chance count as any hint of opportunity was met with emphatic finishes. The early own goal from goalkeeper Christiane Endler, the result of Lyon failing to deal with an Arsenal corner, set the tone for Arsenal’s entire performance. Lyon never looked settled with Arsenal causing defensive chaos and panic that we’ve rarely seen from such a successful and traditionally composed side.

The spectacular finish from Mariona Caldentey at the end of the first half and Alessia’s Russo goal at the start of the second period were the ultimate sucker punches for the home side. Caitlin Foord getting a deserved fourth for Arsenal was the nail in a coffin that was already well below ground. Melchie Dumornay, who was a menace for Arsenal in the second leg, could only finish the second leg with a consolation goal.

Perhaps one of Joe Montemurro’s biggest mistakes was starting Ada Hegerberg in this game and Danielle van de Donk dropping to the bench. Hegerberg influenced the game as a second-half substitute in the first leg, but she was anonymous for all 69 minutes she played on Sunday. Isolated and easily dealt with by Arsenal’s centre-backs, the record-breaking No. 9 only managed one touch in Arsenal’s box and 20 touches in total.

Hegerberg coming into the side meant that Dumornay dropped into the No. 10 role. Playing in a deeper position not only impacted the space she could find but also damaged Lyon’s overall link-up play. Montemurro’s reluctance to make any substitutions until the 67th minute, when van de Donk came on, also felt like a mistake.

Lyon were uncharacteristically absent in this second leg but Arsenal deserve all the credit for dismantling them as they did. They’ve already picked off one European giant, can they go and take another one?

Barcelona’s beast mode

People can get easily swept up in the hyperbole around teams like Barcelona. However, across these two legs against Chelsea, I think we can all lean into it.

Picked apart with ease and played like a training game at times, Barcelona went to Stamford Bridge and reminded one of their biggest European rivals why they are truly the top dog. There were more screamers from Claudia Pina, who is in sensational form and continues her quest to get the Champions League golden boot - she’s now on 10 goals with Ewa Pajor the next best with 7.

It was another shocking performance from England’s champions in waiting as they once again conceded four and scored one sad consolation goal, meaning the tie finishes 8-2 on aggregate.

I talked about humblings in last week’s newsletter, this is much more embarrassing. For Sonia Bompastor, and where her team wants to be and has shown it can be over the last few seasons, this was absolutely abysmal.

There was so much that went wrong. Again, the pressing was out of sync, and the defensive line was clumsy and disorganised. Things could have been even worse if it weren’t for some big saves from Hannah Hampton.

Mayra Ramirez had another poor game, losing her individual duels, playing poor passes and not causing any problems for Barcelona’s back line. The only Chelsea player to come out of this semi-final with a good review would be Sandy Baltimore who once again tried to make things happen.

This is Bompastor’s first season in charge and she’ll be granted some patience as a result. However, there are obviously standards and expectations of how Chelsea compete in games like this and the performances across these two legs have been miles off. A big summer awaits as Bompastor continues the Emma Hayes legacy of building a team to try and beat Barcelona.

Crystal Palace relegated

The Champions League may have been dominating the headlines, but there were WSL fixtures over the weekend.

The big story is that Crystal Palace have been relegated back to the Championship after just one season in the top tier.

The South London side gave it their best shot, holding their own in plenty of games this season and pushing a very young, talented squad as far as it could go.

In the end, they’ve been relegated with two games to go, a 7-1 defeat at the hands of West Ham finished them off.

Despite putting up a fight and doing their best to drag bigger budget sides into the relegation battle, Palace have ultimately come up short and more questions will be asked about how promoted sides survive in a WSL that is becoming more expensive and more competitive.

If you haven’t already, make sure you fill out the Football Supporters’ Association survey on the future of the women’s game. There’s big things on the table, including what promotion and relegation from the WSL and Championship looks like moving forward.

That’s it from me. Same time next week.