As debut seasons go, they don’t get much better than the one Mariona Caldentey experienced in 2024/25, as she added a host of accolades to her already-bulging trophy cabinet.
Now she has been crowned the PFA Women’s Player of the Year, adding to her WSL-wide and our club Player of the Year accolades, there can be no questioning the impact of our super Spaniard had last term after arriving from Barcelona.
After debuting against Rangers in the preliminary rounds of the Champions League, her first Gunners goal came in our 4-0 win at home to BK Hacken in the next round, scoring from close range as we made our first tentative steps towards European glory.
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In the group stages, she netted against Bayern Munich, Valerenga and Juventus as she continued to show her class, before Mariona’s first WSL goal came from the penalty spot in a 2-0 win away to West Ham United.
In December came her first big moment in red and white when she converted again from 12 yards to secure our 3-2 comeback win at home to Bayern to ensure we finished top of Group C, sending us through to the quarter-finals.
In 2025 it was a case of new year, same Mariona as our No. 8 netted twice in a 5-0 win at home to Crystal Palace, and contributed another in our Women’s League Cup quarter-final 4-0 win away to Brighton & Hove Albion.
Big goals kept coming as she got us off to a flying start away to Manchester City, scoring in the first minute at Joie Stadium as we came from behind to win 4-3, and a first north London derby goal came in our 5-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur two weeks later.
Read more Mariona Caldentey named PFA Player of the Year
Mariona scored another penalty in our topsy-turvy 4-3 win at home to West Ham United, and was on the scoresheet for March’s 4-0 win over Liverpool in the WSL.
As the big games kept coming, she kept stepping up. The Spaniard was pivotal in our Champions League quarter-final second leg, scoring the equaliser to help us come from 2-0 down on aggregate to beat Real Madrid 3-2 at Emirates Stadium. Into April, Mariona got us back into the game against Lyon with another strike in the semi-finals, and netted again as we turned the tie around with a 4-1 win in France during the second leg.
Two more WSL goals came in May against Brighton and Manchester United to wrap up the campaign in style, collecting our club Player of the Season prize days before the WSL bestowed her with the same honour.
Then came the crowning glory as she played her part in our 1-0 Champions League final win over Barcelona, as Mariona lifted the trophy for the fourth season in a row.
She won the goal of the tournament for her strike against Lyon, and was named in the Team of the Tournament as well. And on the eve of her second season in north London, she has now been deemed by her fellow pros as the best women's player in the country by picking up the PFA Women's Player of the Year.
If season one was anything to go by, we can't wait for season two to get underway as our super Spaniard goes for more glory.
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