Of the Arsenal fans The Halfway Line spoke to while out in Lisbon there was one consistent theme to any hope they had of victory: complacency from Barcelona. Some in Catalan circles treated the result as a formality, with club President Joan Laporta even stating on the prospect of facing Arsenal: “We (Barcelona) look forward to our third consecutive Champions League.”
Anecdotal evidences suggests a similar hubris from stands, with a couple of Barcelona supporters telling The Halfway Line prior to kick off that “there is only one outcome.”
While it is unlikely this was an attitude shared by the Barcelona coaching staff nor players, these outside influences clearly affected them. The expectations allowed their opponents to relish in the role of underdog, a part Renee Slegers’ team have played to perfection throughout this UEFA Women’s Champions League campaign. Expectations can have a paralysing affect on those they weigh upon and if the powers that be at Barcelona felt the cat was in the bag before a ball was kicked on Saturday it wasn’t long before their hubris found the bag in the river. There are few players who can take advantage of the weight of expectation on others more than Arsenal’s Stina Blackstenius.
The mythical quality of Stina Blackstenius
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Throughout her career Stina Blackstenius has seemingly defied logic both in the mystifying and the sublime. Coming into the final in Lisbon on Saturday it felt at once incongruous, inconceivable and inevitable that Stina Blackstenius would score the goal that would write Arsenal’s name into the history books once more as European Champions.
Blackstenius and her unique playing style make her the perfect player for the big moments, as her career has so far demonstrated.
Barcelona are not the first super power of women’s football to come undone by the Swede with electric pace. A dynamic and unstoppable goal scorer at youth level, Blackstenius was quickly promoted to the Sweden first team. Her first major tournament with the senior team was the Rio Olympics in 2016, she fleetingly featured in the opening match off the bench and did not feature again until the quarter final.
In the quarters, Sweden faced the formidable challenge of 2015 World Champions and reigning Olympic champions USA. An ill tempered encounter followed and a 20 year old Blackstenius came off the bench to give the Swedish underdogs the lead before her nation shocked the world to progress on penalties. Blackstenius scored again in the final against Germany but Sweden would lose 2-1 securing a silver medal in the process.
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Fast forward to the 2019 World Cup and Sweden renewed their rivalry against Germany in the quarter finals, hoping for vengeance. Germany were overwhelming favourites to progress as reigning Olympic champions, knowing that only a semi final berth would grant them the chance to defend their crown in Tokyo. In the previous round Sweden had squeezed past Canada, once again a Blackstenius goal proving the only thing to separate the two sides and as this now familiar story goes in the career of Blackstenius she continued to revel in the role of the dark horse. It was her goal that would send Germany home before the semi final for just the third time in their entire history. Sweden and Blackstenius went on to achieve an historic bronze medal finish at the World Cup.
Sweden met USA once again at an Olympics in 2021 and Blackstenius nabbed a brace in a 3-0 win. Unthinkably the World Champions had been hammered in the opening game and one of international football’s most potent rivalries had gained another chapter. Once again it was Blackstenius who had put pen to paper in writing it. Blackstenius would go onto enjoy an excellent tournament scoring five goals as Sweden clinched a silver medal. No giant of women’s football is safe.
How Blackstenius has made the difference for Arsenal
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Blackstenius signed for Arsenal in January 2022 and she quickly proved the difference for Arsenal in only her second match, equalising off the bench against Manchester United, running onto a sumptuous through ball from Viviane Miedema. Fascinatingly the BBC spoke to Arsenal head coach at the time, Jonas Eidevall about the signing of compatriot, Blackstenius “A standout for her is her ability to score goals in really big games. That is down to her being an excellent player running in behind when she is exposed to space.”
“If you look at the games we played against Barcelona for example, I think a quality that we really missed in the side is someone to punish teams that are playing with a high defending line, so she will help us with that as well,” he continued.
It was not long before Eidevall was proven correct. The Champions League final was the second time that Blackstenius has scored the winning goal in a tight final for Arsenal and the third goal she had scored in three finals for the club. The Swedish forward scored the winner against Chelsea in last season’s Continental Cup final, and in the same season it was her goal against Manchester City in the semi final that put Arsenal through.
The previous season Blackstenius had scored a hat trick in the semi final against Aston Villa before scoring the equalising goal in the final for Arsenal against Chelsea as Arsenal came back to win 3-1. And famously it was her double denied a Manchester City on the brink of their second Barclays Women’s Super League title last season and gave Chelsea the opportunity, that they duly took to win the league.
Since joining Arsenal Blackstenius’ goals have been scored at vital junctures. Everyone remembers Frida Maanum’s stunner at the Emirates against Bayern Munich in the 2022/23 Champions League quarter final to level the tie on the night (as they should), but who scored the winner that day? Stina Blackstenius.
Blackstenius, who hails from the small Swedish town of Vadstena, also scored in both legs of the semi final against Wolfsburg. In the first leg, she levelled the tie at 2-2 while in the second leg at the Emirates in front of a crowd of over 60,000 Blackstenius opened the scoring to give Arsenal the lead in the tie on the night.
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In her time at the club Blackstenius has scored either the opening goal or the winning goal for Arsenal on 17 occasions, scoring to ensure a draw five times. Despite only playing for Arsenal for three and a half seasons, including one that Arsenal did not make the Champions Leagueproper. Despite only playing for Arsenal for three and a half seasons, including one that Arsenal did not make the Champions League proper, Stina Blackstenius is the only player in Champions League history to score in every round of the competition for an English club over multiple seasons.
She was ultimately the difference between Barcelona and Arsenal on Saturday in the most important match Arsenal had played in for 18 years.
How Blackstenius made the difference in the final
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Arsenal had defended valiantly throughout the match but had at times struggled for respite from wave after wave of Catalan attack. Alessia Russo had done her best to hold up the ball, but there are few sides that make it harder for you to retain possession in advanced areas than the relentless pressing and possession machine of Barcelona.
After the whistle blew to start the second half Arsenal experienced the period of the match in which they were force to dig deepest, with Barcelona giving them little space to breathe. Hence Renée Slegers elected a change of tact, Blackstenius who plays off the shoulder of the defender with pace to burn was introduced. By that stage Irene Paredes was on a yellow card so the threat of Blackstenius could be even more acutely felt.
Just minutes after her introduction a misplaced Barcelona pass was pounced on by the Swedish striker outsmarting Mapi Leon nutmegging the Spainish centre ball to reach the ball and advance. A wonderful weaving run from Blackstenius followed before resulting in a smart save from Cata Coll with her feet. It was a warning sign Barcelona did not heed.
Off the bench with her in the 67th minute was Beth Mead and a mere seven minutes later they combined for the winner. It was the Lionesses star who set up the Swede dropping the shoulder and finding Blackstenius with a reverse pass. Blackstenius let the ball run across her body before firing it into the bottom corner past Coll causing bedlam in the stands and raucous celebrations from those in red and white on the pitch.
Appeals for offside were launched but the Swede was only caught offside once in the final, and this was not that moment. Since arriving in England Blackstenius has been often criticised for her unconventional style and penchant for being caught offside. And while the offside flag is the natural bane of the speedy striker, the Swedish forward was largely elusive to its attempts to foil her afternoon in Lisbon. And despite those calls for offside, the goal stood, with replays showing Blackstenius to be clearly onside.
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In just 23 minutes on the pitch Blackstenius had double the amount of shots on target as the entire rest of the Arsenal team put together on the day. She had provided a directness that Arsenal’s play had lacked and with it secured another Champions League trophy for Arsenal, the only club in the UK to have won the tournament have now won it twice.
It must be noted that only with Arsenal’s defence could Blackstenius have the opportunity to thrive. Arsenal held Barcelona to their lowest XG over 90 minutes this season at just 1.00. No Arsenal defender fouled a Barcelona player throughout the match in an incredible show of discipline. Arsenal made 47 clearances during the match for context the entire Barcelona back four made 57 clearances in the entire 30 game season in Liga F, which helps us understand why an outlet like Blackstenius was perfect for this moment.
On such a steady foundation as the one that had Arsenal built their Champions League challenge upon on Saturday, Blackstenius ensured that all that hard work was warranted. Arsenal proved worthy winners of the competition in the end, beating the champions of Spain, Germany, France, Italy and Norway on the path to victory.
In 2016 Blackstenius and Slegers won the Swedish title as team mates with Linköping, the season proved to be Slegers’ final one in professional football and her final silverware as a player retiring due to injury. On Saturday it was the Dutchwoman’s old team mate who was her ace in the hole. Who ensured Slegers lifted her first trophy as Arsenal head coach in Lisbon, the most coveted prize in European club football.
From her initial standing among Arsenal fans as a cult hero, Blackstenius is now enshrined in Arsenal folklore as a bonafide Arsenal legend. Her status is now only matched by Arsenal legend Alex Scott, the only other player in Arsenal history to score the winning goal in a European Cup final.