Fearless Arsenal rewarded after turbulent journey to Champions League final

Having made it from the first qualifying round to the UWCL final, Arsenal have shown they can deal with being underdogs ahead of a historic clash in Lisbon

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Arsenal are Champions League finalists.

Eighteen years on from their fabled triumph of 2007, when the competition was still known as the Uefa Women's Cup, the Gunners will once again play in the biggest match in women's club football, where they will aim to add a second European Cup to their trophy cabinet. To do that, they will arrive as underdogs and have to beat an all-conquering Barcelona side aiming to win the competition for a third consecutive season. Then again, winning against the odds has been a theme of Arsenal's 2024-25 Champions League campaign.

Few expected them to turn around a two-goal first-leg deficit to Real Madrid in the quarter-finals. Even fewer expected them to conjure up a semi-final second-leg turnaround away to a Lyon side who, until yesterday, were unbeaten in all competitions this season and had conceded just twice from open play in the UWCL. And yet, on both occasions, they came back from the brink and are now 90 minutes away from capping the most unlikely of triumphs.