A-Leagues legends Steph Catley, Caitlin Foord and Kyra Cooney-Cross joined an exclusive group of Australians to win the UEFA Champions League after Arsenal ended their European drought.
Australians flags were waving proudly in Lisbon as the CommBank Matildas trio helped Arsenal stun Spanish giants Barcelona 1-0 in the UEFA Women’s Champions League final on Sunday (AEST).
While Arsenal celebrated their first Champions League title in 18 years, Catley, Foord – who both started, and Cooney-Cross became the only Australians after Craig Johnston (1984), Harry Kewell (2005), Zeljko Kalac (2007) and Ellie Carpenter (2020 and 2022) to conquer Europe’s elite competition – men or women.
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Catley, Foord and Cooney-Cross were not the only Australians involved in the drought-ending triumph.
Former Melbourne Victory coach Aaron D’Antino became the latest Australian coach to win a European title.
In a week that saw Ange Postecoglou make history with Tottenham in the UEFA Men’s Europa League alongside Aussie coaches and A-Leagues alumni Mile Jedinak, Nick Montgomery and Sergio Raimundo, Arsenal assistant coach D’Antino joined the club.
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“I think, for me, for the players, for the staff, for the fans who just left, I don’t know how long they stayed, there are so many people caring so much,” said Arsenal head coach Renee Slegers.
“The people that are here today, the people that have been supporting us all over the world, all the people that have been supporting us at home in London, but I also want to highlight the people that have made this possible. That’s the people that started the journey for Arsenal Women. There’s so much work going into this.
“I’m very proud to be a part of Arsenal. Thank you, everyone, who’s made this possible to get us to this point.”
It has been quite the journey for the Geelong native.
D’Antino has had to “pinch himself” at times. He was working as an assistant at hometown club Geelong SC in the Victorian state leagues while juggling his Melbourne Victory commitments when Arsenal came calling seven years ago.
At Victory, he worked with the likes of Postecoglou, Kevin Muscat and Peter Cklamovski.
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“You will not realise how fortunate you’ve been to be in this environment until you’re older.”
Those were Cklamovski’s words and they have never been lost on Aaron.
Then, D’Antino followed fellow Australian Joseph Montemurro to Arsenal as his senior assistant in a dream move to the London back in 2018 and the leap to Europe paid instant dividends – the Gunners ended their Women’s Super League title drought that same season.
Seven years on and D’Antino is still working as an assistant at Arsenal – a constant at the English club while others have come and gone.