The game plan was prepared, the video analysis had been cut and the tactics board was set out, ready to go. The substitutes, including the two players who would combine to become Arsenal’s match-winners, had received their roles for the week before the Women’s Champions League final: they would pretend to play like Barcelona, to deploy their shape in training and replicate their attacking movements, rotations and overloads against Arsenal’s starting line-up.
Arsenal felt ready as they arrived at the Jose Alvalade Stadium. On the day of the club’s biggest game in a generation, against the best team in the world, there was a sense of calm. They were relaxed and knew the work had been done.
