How Mariona Caldentey elevated Arsenal on road to Champions League final | OneFootball

When Arsenal approached Mariona Caldentey in the summer of 2024, it was with occasions like Saturday’s Women’s Champions League final in mind. A three-time European champion with Barcelona, and a World Cup winner with Spain, the midfielder was seen as a figure with the talent, work ethic, charisma and trophy cabinet to help Arsenal to the next level. Her final game for Barcelona came in Bilbao, as they defeated Lyon to retain the Champions League. A year on, the last game of her first season at Arsenal will culminate in another Champions League final, this time against her former side.

Just as Arsenal hoped, Mariona has been pivotal to their run to their first Women’s Champions League final since 2007. The 29-year-old scored in both legs of their semi-final victory over Lyon, as well as in the quarter-final comeback against Real Madrid. It seems so simple now, as if by design, but she has brought the winning mentality which resulted in 25 major titles during her 10 years with Barcelona. That feeling, Mariona has said, is “contagious”. “Mariona is a winner in everything,” said the Arsenal head coach Renee Slegers. “She is moving the culture forward.”

Mariona’s first year in England, though, has not been without its challenges. If the signing of one of Spain’s World Cup winners and one of the most successful players in Barcelona’s recent dominance was a statement of intent from Arsenal at the start of the season, the first few weeks of their campaign brought a different reality. Jonas Eidevall was gone after just four games of the new Women’s Super League season, and following a dismal 5-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League group stages. After a show of ambition, Arsenal were left trying to salvage something from their year.

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Arsenal’s season has seen several turning points - including the appointment of Renee Slegers (Getty Images)

In truth, the arrival of Mariona had also heightened expectations, with Arsenal wanting to match their progress off the pitch with improvements on it. Under Eidevall in the previous season, Arsenal had struggled against deep defences. Mariona was a stylish midfielder who could quicken their pace and create some fluidity, but Eidevall’s side continued to toil when tasked with breaking another team down. With Alessia Russo signed the year before, Eidevall had the pieces to build an attacking side, but they were too often too easy to slow down. In the end, it was the Swede who paid the price.

What followed was a dramatic transformation under Slegers, who had been Eidevall’s assistant. The Dutch coach made an immediate impact in terms of improving results, winning 11 of her first 12 games in charge and steering Arsenal into the quarter-finals of the Champions League, but also in their style of play. Slegers had a good relationship with Arsenal’s squad, who felt the pressure loosen as they started to click and hit their stride. In that initial 12-game unbeaten run, Arsenal also scored 36 goals.

The league was gone, with Chelsea surging to the front under Sonia Bompastor and having the title all but wrapped up when they defeated Arsenal in late January. But there was still a major prize to contend for in the Champions League and Slegers had boosted Arsenal’s chances considerably by recovering from that 5-2 defeat at Bayern Munich to win their next five games and qualify for the quarter-finals as group winners. That meant they would avoid Barcelona and Chelsea, and the draw had placed the two continent’s two strongest teams in the other half anyway.

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Caldentey won the Champions League three times during her 10 years at Barcelona (Getty Images)

A chance to save the season had become a historic opportunity. By then, Slegers had also been appointed on a permanent basis - having impressed Arsenal with the manner of how she had turned their campaign around. The former Netherlands international, who retired from playing at the age of 29 due to injury, is composed on the touchline and her measured approach was particularly key in Arsenal’s comeback against Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Having lost 2-0 in the first leg on a “disgrace” of a pitch, Arsenal returned to the Emirates requiring a huge comeback. By half time, Arsenal had dominated but made their way back to the dressing room with nothing to show for it. Other teams may have panicked but Slegers told her players that a breakthrough was coming. “We stayed calm,” Slegers said. Arsenal reemerged to blitz Real Madrid by scoring three goals in 14 second-half minutes.

It was a good night for Slegers in another sense. Russo scored twice to underline the huge steps the England striker has taken this season to improve her output and overall game. Chloe Kelly came away with two assists, with the smile back on her face and the confidence restored after a difficult first half of the season at Manchester City. Arsenal spotted an opportunity to sign the winger on loan in January and Kelly has returned to form.

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Mariona Caldentey scored a superb goal in Arsenal's win at Lyon in the semi-finals (Getty Images)

Slegers also worked out how to get the best out of Mariona in her Arsenal team, after the Spaniard spent the first half of the season switching between the wings and No 10 without ever settling. In the second leg against Madrid, Slegers pulled Mariona deeper into midfield alongside Kim Little and the former Barcelona star was irrepressible, leading the press off the ball and taking responsibility with it. Her influence in the team has grown since she was brought into the heart of it.

And now Mariona is a game away from where she was a year ago. In the comeback against Lyon in France, Arsenal were gifted a way back into the semi-final by their generous hosts but Mariona produced the moment of the tie with her curling shot from the edge of the box to give them the lead for the first time. It was the touch of class, alongside that winner’s mentality to take the initiative, that Arsenal required.

In Lisbon, she will face friends, former team-mates and the club she signed for aged 18. Her decision to leave a dominant team was to experience something new - and now she is the example. “What I learned is talent is not enough,” Mariona said of her time at Barcelona last month. “You need to work hard, to be fit, to be ready for the battles. It’s not easy and it takes time. It takes teamwork. That’s what we are building now. I can feel it. We need to believe in what we are doing, in the Arsenal way. We are on the way.”