Football Daily - Arsenal stun Barcelona to win Women’s Champions League

Episode Date: May 24, 2025

Steve Crossman has reaction as Arsenal win their first Women's Champions League title in 18 years. Hear from Izzy Christiansen, Gilly Flaherty and Vicki Sparks, as well as Arsenal boss Renée Slegers.00:35 Arsenal win Women’s Champions League 08:30 Renée Slegers INTERVIEW 11:30 Leah Williamson back to her best 15:35 Arsenal nail their tactics 17:25 Arsenal get their psychology right 20:35 Arsenal changed their gameplan in training 21:50 Barcelona pick up their runners-up medals 24:15 Arsenal players pick up their medals 26:10 Arsenal lift the Women’s Champions League trophy 31:15 “Barcelona got pastel de nata’d”BBC Sounds / 5 Live Premier League final day commentaries: Sun 1600 Nottingham Forest v Chelsea on 5 Live, Sun 1600 Liverpool v Crystal Palace on Sports Extra 2, Sun 1600 Wolves v Brentford on Sports Extra 3.

BBC Sounds music radio podcast. This is the Football Daily podcast with Steve Crossman. Hello there. Welcome to the Football Daily. Arsenal have won the Women's Champions League. First time in 18 years they beat the mighty Barcelona, the back to back champions in the final in Lisbon. We'll hear from Gilly Flaherty, who was in the Arsenal team that won it the last time

in 2007. We'll hear from Izzy Christensen as well, a Champions League winner. First, this is how it sounded at full time with Vicky Sparks. This is it. It is now or never for the reigning European champions if they're to level things against us. But there is no time. It is glory for the Gunners once more in Europe. They have achieved what so many God could not happen. They have beaten a Barcelona side who have been quite brilliant in the Champions League this season, but so often it can all come down to one game and Arsenal turned up today. Every single woman out there played to the best of their ability with guts, with grit for the Gunners.

And Barcelona quite simply have been deservedly beaten. And Arsenal, after 18 years, are European champions once again. I honestly, I could not be happier for them. This is just an outrageous achievement, like you say, against European champions, to execute a game plan to the nth degree, to the perfect degree of measurement, to stifle a team that is littered with world-class talent. The processes were there, the resilience was there, the defending was there, the quality was there, the squad depth was there, and the brains from Renée Slaygers and her staff, Aaron Dantino,

Melissa Phillips, Kelly Smith, and all of the other backroom staff. the of Arsenal on the Champions League trophy. This is incredible stuff. And Izzy, that is so, there's so many things to draw out of this final but that is one of the key things. This is utterly deserved from Arsenal. This is not a side who came and sat back and had 10 players behind the ball and to be honest if you win 1-0 doing that, fair play to you. That's your game plan. But that's not what Arsenal did. They attacked Barcelona. They did what René Sleig has asked them to do before this game. Be brave, be courageous, be disciplined. And every single player has given it absolutely everything. And they have deserved it.

Yeah, it's just been spectacular. I'm sure we'll get into the meat of the game in due course. But right now, the outpour of emotion. Arsenal just won the Champions League. This is just incredible. An English club. And we've said all along, Chelsea, their squad is built to win the Champions League.

Arsenal have just turned on the accelerator. They've shifted into gear seven. And they have just absolutely won it and so deservedly execution of a game plan was just beyond belief unbelievable stuff and I can't believe how entitled Barcelona have been today it really can't they've just been outclassed outsmarted outworked and it's just been the most incredible story for Arsenal now to get their hands on the Champions League trophy.

And I've got to say Izzy, and I'm going to give you massive props here on Five Live BBC Sound. You called it when they substituted you. You did, so you look at me like that. You called it. You said those substitutes were going to say the game. In the interest of fairness, I should say, either for Arsenal or Barcelona.

But not Arsenal, you think, but. But I did say that at the time. Yes. Because I thought change of shape, change of personnel. This is either going to go one way or the other. But nonetheless, the substitutes will change the game. And they did. And Beth Mead combined, Christina Black-Stenius,

if you're a manager and you're writing your predicted game plan or your hopes for how it wants to play out you do probably write I want a substitute to come on and make an impact they're probably fuming in the hotel earlier that they're not starting the game but you know what that's a lesson that is a way to go and show the manager you are ready that just goes to show the terminology around substitutes you don't't call them substitutes, you call them finishers. Black Stenius and Beth Meade just finished the game off for what their teammates already started. Incredible.

Well the celebrations, the party is starting here for these Arsenal fans in Lisbon. Beth Meade's on fire, that's what they're roaring to read from Desire. We will be staying with this on five live for the trophy lift and so much reaction to come. But Steve, it is quite remarkable scenes here in Lisbon as the Arsenal players for the first time since the final whistle has gone run over to those screaming, cheering, celebrating Arsenal fans still in that pocket of sunshine across from us. What the Gunners have done here in beating Barcelona is quite remarkable and this will go down as one of the greatest, if

not the greatest, night in their history. Izzy Christensen, I'm seeing facial expressions down there on the pitch which mirror the tone in your voice. I think I've known you long enough to say there's a little bit of disbelief there. It's not disbelief in a disrespectful way. No, of course not. It's disbelief that they've executed the most perfect game plan in a game of this magnitude, on this stage, in this heat,

against the Barcelona team team who are formidable. And they've just done it, and they've achieved it, and they're now celebrating with their fans in the heat of this stadium where the sun's shining on the red of the Arsenal fans. It's just incredible. Honestly, the players this season, Alexia Russo, Leo Williamson, Kim Little, Mariona Caldente, Beth Meade, Chloe Kelly, you know, Caitlin Ford, everyone, Steph Catley. They have been outstanding. They have had a change of manager. They've stuck together. And they've just got a hands-on Champions League trophy. It's just incredible, Steve. Let's bring Gilly Flaherty into the conversation part of the Arsenal squad that won the Champions League in 2007. Their only other victory. Gilly, how are you doing with all of these scenes,

with all of those emotions flowing? Oh, it's absolutely incredible. I've been watching it at home and I think for the last 10 minutes, my anxiety was going through the roof. Even, obviously I played for Arsenal and I wasn't fortunate enough to be involved in the last time it was won by Arsenal.

But it was just absolutely clear, it was so tense watching it on the telly, but I could not be happier for the club as a whole. Do you know, Gilli, it's funny because we're live now from BBC Radio Wales and I've been in the Principality Stadium with a couple of Northamptons Saints legends who were in the last Northampton team to win the Champions Cup and watching them go through the ringer with their team just missing out in a final. It's so similar for you, isn't it?

But the opposite result, you know, now people aren't going to say, oh, Gilly was part of the last team to win the Champions League, because Arsenal have done it, made their own memories, made their own history, and wow, they are drinking it in. Yeah, you know what it's hard for a team I think because of Arsenal it's always spoke about that

final obviously when it was named obviously the UEFA Women's Cup it's always spoke about and I said it this season when they got to the finals it's a chance for them to make their own history with this tournament with this new format. And I think a lot of people doubted Arsenal going into this game today. I think they were the underdogs. I think even if you talk about press conference beforehand of how obviously Barcelona were pretty much expecting to get the trophy and for how they played today is absolutely incredible. And it's just just it's unbelievable I could not be happier at all for the club. Right reaction time here's the Arsenal boss

René Sleggers. Super proud because you can have all these ideas in your in your head and show video and animations and use your tactics board and all those things and do it in training but then when the moment is actually there and you're gonna play against an opponent that is so good, that has been so good for so long, that we haven't played against for many years, it says so much about the players because it's not an easy game to play.

It's probably the hardest game we've played so far. And with all the quality that Barcelona has, with all their rotations and all their individual threats, there was so much to deal with today and the players had to make decisions every single second on the pitch and every step was going to make a difference and every decision was going to make a difference. And we knew that we had to suffer at times in games, but I think the way we manage the game, for me it's unbelievable. It's above all expectation because I think we're almost spot on what the players deliver

on the pitch in the crucial moments. I'd imagine this is hard for you to think back, but when you were assistant at the start of the season and looking ahead to where you would be in nine minutes' time, I'd imagine you didn't think you would be leading the team out to win a Chummies league. How do you reflect on just that unbelievably crazy journey that you as an individual have gone on over the last nine months? It's been a fantastic time. There's so many things that have happened this season and there's so many hard times we've gone through together

as a team and we've always fought back. And I think as a team, the belief just, it was growing every single day in the season. And I think there's a couple of critical, crucial moments in the season for us that gave us the evidence of what we were capable of. But everyone who's been in the building every single day has seen that it has been growing every day because

of the investment and the effort that the players have been putting in. Because there's been so much engagement, so much investment, so much belief and intensity in the way we train. So I'm so happy for everyone that everything we've been asking for and all the everything we've been asking for and all the demands we've had and all the questions we've asked on the players, that they got the rewards today. I think they're so worth it because

they've worked extremely hard and the funny or the positive thing about everything, of course we're going to reflect and take all this in but I think there's even more in this team so that's the almost the scary part of it that we've achieved something enormous today but there's even more to give in this team so we're really gonna celebrate tonight and enjoy the moment and then there's some time off and there's Euros and other national team camps, and then we come back. And I'm so excited about more with this team. Izzy, I asked you about disbelief.

I mean, there'll be so many of those Arsenal players that will have fully believed this was gonna be their night long before the game, top of that list. And one of, if not the best performer on the night, Leah Williamson. Yeah, honestly, you've got to believe it. You've got to see it, but then you've got to

execute and it's such a hard thing to do to segregate the emotion and what's at stake of the occasion to the actual processes that get you there and you're spot on Steve the way that Leah Williamson defended. I think her clearances are

reading of the game back to the Leah Williamson, we know of what she is capable of doing. She was absolutely outstanding. So was Steph Catley in the centre back partnership and I think Daphne Van Domselart in goal as well. As soon as she came into the side they rode the early pressure in the first half. I thought her resilience, sort of her commanding presence in the Arsenal six yard box set a precedent, set the tone for Arsenal. And honestly, I could go through the whole team. I think the whole team, all 14 players who featured on the grass. But I'm telling you what, there's a whole lot of other people who featured as well. But

the players that play all performed above an eight out of ten and I think that is Champions League winning form and on the contrary to that Barcelona highly disappointed in their performance but they were made to suffer because of the way Arsenal played. Arsenal absolutely suffocated them, put them into places they did not want to be, challenges their perception of who they are, who you want to be and ultimately they got inside their heads and Barcelona had no answer whatsoever. And I think that's just a stroke of genius from Arsenal. Vicky, I know you'll jump in and take over whenever it is that Arsenal go up to lift

the trophy because our pictures are quite a way behind you at the minute. But just on Barcelona, obviously, most of our focus is going to be on Arsenal. But on the full time whistle, there were tears, weren't there? These are serial winners and it hurts. Yeah massively and I think it's so interesting what we just touched on there and what Gilly was saying about you know the pre-match Barcelona press conference and the pre-match Arsenal you know press conference because of course players are media trained and you know they say all the right things and you know I don't think Arsenal, I think one of the key things for them was this underdog tag. We spoke about it in commentary that Lear Williamson, the England captain, saying,

look, we understand we're the underdogs. On paper that is factually true. But we're not coming here with that mentality. And I thought that was interesting because we see teams feed into that all the time. You can play with an underdog mentality. It can be a real positive, but it just speaks to the belief that Arsenal have that actually no, we might be underdogs on paper because of what Barcelona have done in the competition this season. Let's not forget they decimated Chelsea.

Chelsea who won the treble in English women's football this season. They decimated them 8-2 in the semi-finals. They beat Wolfsburg 10- were in the quarter-finals, they were in the quarter-finals. They were in the quarter-finals. They were in the quarter-finals. They were in the quarter-finals. They were in the quarter-finals. They were in the quarter-finals. They were in the quarter-finals.

They were in the quarter-finals. They were in the quarter-finals. They were in the quarter-finals. They were in the quarter-finals. plan was executed to perfection. And I mean, Reni Slagers, who becomes incidentally the first Dutch manager to win the Women's Champions League, she could not have planned this more perfectly. And amidst all the press conferences yesterday and people saying things that were kind of very on point, one thing that did jump out at me from the Barcelona manager Pere Romeu, he said, you know, Arsenal play with fearless attacking intent, rapid wingers

overloading the box, but we are masters at forcing opponents into our style. Well, they didn't today. I'm just getting some quotes here from Alessia Russo, who was actually in tears on television when she was interviewed. She said, we worked so hard, it feels amazing, we suffered a lot, they're a top side, we knew we'd have to be happy without the ball. Then our game changers would come on. We wanted it so badly, it feels surreal.

We knew we could do it. We've believed since the moment we started on this Champions League journey. Chilly Flattie just on that. Alessia Russo saying that. We knew we had to be happy without the ball and then get game changers on. That's the René Slegger's impact here, isn't it?

That's the tactical master plan thatgger's impact here, isn't it? That's the tactical master plan that Vicky was just talking about. Yeah, a million percent. And I think the substitutions with Beth Mead and Blackstinneus coming on, obviously they both linked up for the goal, but it was set up to a T. You know what I mean? The first half, they had to be patient, you know, and the defending today, that is the best that I think I've seen Arsenal women defend this season, individually and as a team. Every single player stepped up.

There wasn't a single player in that pitch today who had a bad game, but I think that's what it was. I think frustrates Barcelona, stay in the game for as long as possible, don't concede an early goal, and in the second half can we try and stretch them. I think that's what Black-Cineas does. She likes the stretching behind and she just is able to open it up. But it was a perfect game able to open it up. But it was a perfect game plan to achieve for Arsenal,

and that's why they're the winners. Could you guys in the stadium, Izzy, just really feel the growing confidence? Because presumably, as that game was going on, it was becoming more and more clear to those Arsenal players that their plan was nailed on, that they had cracked it, that Barcelona were the team suffering with the ball. Yeah I think that the poignant thing for me was that Arsenal did suffer in the game. There were times where Barcelona had Arsenal right on the rack and it felt like something was coming but what I noticed in those moments was that Arsenal didn't panic, there was never any sense of snatching at clearances or players jumping out of shape when they didn't need to. Everything was done

methodically, is that a word? I don't know, I'm running out of words. Methodically, there we go, thank you. Everything was done so cleanly and there was no panic. They rode out the emotional time, you know, when it was really difficult and they suffered, they didn't react emotionally. And equally, when they scored, they didn't really react too emotionally. Obviously, the euphoria takes over in that moment.

But the way they re-centered themselves was remarkable. And I know, I'll give you a bit of insight here. I know the psychologist, he's not really a psychologist, but he's a team sort of development guy behind the scenes, Matt Donville is his name, right? I worked with him at Everton and he's big on mindfulness and sort of present and sort of calm and you know the work that he's done that he did with me on an individual level back at Everton, he did with a team. He then got headhunted by Arsenal and I can see his impact on this team and it really, really shows in those moments of high anxiety, of high pressure, the players are able to re-centre themselves and you'd be so surprised how, let's just say for example, Katie McCabe does something erratic and reacts.

It's how then your teammates around you react to that. Do you then get fired up yourself or do you control yourself? Because we go through moments in games of football where there are going to be high moments of pressure and anxiety, but how you react is the most important thing. And I think emotionally, the way that Arsenal acted from minute one to minute 97 was absolutely perfect. And that is why they got the better Barcelona, they got in their heads because Barcelona are waiting for the joker in the pack in Arsenal's team to jump out at the wrong time and press and then the space opens and then they start playing but no one did that everyone was in unison and I thought you know Julie said it, Vicky said it, we all said it, that was the perfect performance from Arsenal. So are you physically sort of seeing that in that the

I can't actually see the facial expressions of the players on the pitch, but I can see body language and I can see pointing and I can see negative body language. And on the contrary to that, when the cameras are zooming in on the Barcelona players, I'm seeing Moaning and I'm seeing, you know, shrugging shoulders. I'm seeing sort of negative body language. I've seen it early on, Claudia Pina on the right-hand side and the far left-hand side in front of the Arsenal fans in the first half. She catches a late challenge from Chloe Kelly and she goes down Moaning. And I'm thinking, you're not mentally in this game, and Arsenal is starting to get the better of you. And I saw moments like that twist

in Arsenal's favour throughout the match. And ultimately, you know, sport, football is about winning, but it's about the processes you get to winning. And I just think Arsenal had everything teed up execution perfectly And I thought they got the better of Barcelona today Julie I think I probably know the answer to this question, but do you remember Leah Williamson as a ball girl in the final in 2007? When I was coaching I think I was in the first of the time but I was coaches using the under 10s And I it's incredible to see obviously now in this final,

you know, and winning it. Quotes from her coming in now as well. I'm so happy we changed the game plan in the week and that paid off in the first half. We had chances and we wasted them.

We didn't realize how good they were. We just needed one chance in the second half and we took it that that is amazing. Is he they changed the game plan in the week leading up to the final. We didn't realize how good they were. We just needed one chance in the second half, and we took it that that is amazing. Is he they changed

the game plan in the week leading up to the final that takes guts? Well you've got to back your ability back your confidence. I still do have a way of playing, but when it gets to these levels of football matches, the finer details

matter, and I do think that they failed to score in the first half with a sort of front-footed attacking approach so they went in a half time still in the game which is important at 0-0 but they actually could have been 1-0 up so you could almost whether you class that as failure or not it's up to you how you interpret that but then they've obviously twisted it in the second half and what I liked is Arsenal waited for Pierre Romeo, the Barcelona coach, to blink first and make his show his hand, show his card. He put Parrello on, which is clearly obvious they wanted to exploit the space in behind Arsenal. And then Renee Slagers, five

minutes later, she puts on Black Stenius and Beth Meade, changes the shape of the team. Rousseau was causing problems dropping in. I thought she was absolutely outstanding tonight. And ultimately, the two subs combined for the winning goal in a Champions League final, incredible. Barcelona players, Vicky now making the walk that nobody wants to walk. They are indeed there being greeted by Alexander Chefer in the UEFA president and taking those runners up middles.

This is bitter for Barcelona. They are not accustomed to this. They have established themselves in recent years as the dominant force in European women's football, but they quite simply were outmatched and outthought and outplayed today by Arsenal. And you look at the way that Arsenal withstood, that real spell of pressure for around 20, 25 minutes in the second half after a very even first half where Arsenal actually have been the better side but the substitutes changed the game

from Renae Slagers and I'm like you Steve, my ears pricked up when I heard those quotes saying they changed the game plan in the week. I mean props to her, that you know that takes courage, that takes you know a little bit of inventiveness, that maybe takes waking up one morning and suddenly going, hang on a minute, maybe if we just did this. I mean, what an achievement this is for her. She was assistant manager at Arsenal before she took over, originally as interim in October, then permanently in January, and she's done what no Arsenal manager has been able to do

in the last 18 years, and what no other manager, even Emma Hayes at Chelsea, this was always the one that always got away for Chelsea. No other British club has won this competition. No other British club has even got to two finals of this competition. Arsenal have and they've won it twice and having given Barcelona a guard of honour, Barcelona will now reciprocate for Arsenal who are getting ready to make the walk up those steps where they too will the They've had to do it the hard way. At every stage in the Champions League this season, their run started in the first qualifying round. They had to come back after a heavy defeat by Bayern Munich in their opening group stage game.

That was one of Jonas Eideveld's last games in charge. Then they had to come back from 2-0 down in the first leg against Real Madrid in the quarter-final. They did that. They had to come back from a 2-1 deficit against the record European champions, Lyon in the semi-final. They did that. They had to come back from a 2-1 deficit against the record European champions, Leon, in the semi-final. They did that. They blew them away in France and they have been absolutely immense against Barcelona this evening. And Izzy, as we see the players now mounting the podium, it will

mean so much to all of them. But, you know, for those childhood Arsenal fans like Leo Williamson and Lotta Bibbenworth, Kim Little who's been there for so long. The captain who in a few moments is going to lift that silver trophy which has the red ribbons tied on it now. What a moment this is going to be and the emotions going... I mean you've won a Champions League, you know what this is like. But to do it for so many of these players, for a club that means so much to them, that they've been there for so long, that they've gone through so much with, it's glorious. It's just beautiful watching the moment here because Renee Slagers walked up first, collected a medal and she was stood alone on the step in front of that sort of, what you call them, a plinth that says winners on it.

The BWF Women's Champions League final 2025,'s a very important moment for the club that says winners on it. If you wait for women's Champions League final 2025, two Arsenal badges either side of it. Renée Slagers was just stood there by herself waiting for the players to join them, join her. She collected the medals and I thought that was quite iconic because she's a

winner. She has just proven that the club, the trust Arsenal have put into her to take over from the only side of El Halfway through the season. Their winning percentage under her in Europe is in the 75% winning percentage in all competitions. She's been remarkable, they've scored the most goals in the WSL this season, they've played with flair, they've played with attacking creativity, but I'm telling you what, they defended like true warriors this evening. And it's just the most incredible story. They won't be able to believe it. I imagine these celebrations are going to go long into the night or morning for Arsenal, and there we go. So Kim Little is handed the trophy. There's a big smile on her face, that gold winner's medal around her neck. As she walks over and with Leah Williamson with one hand on the trophy, together they raise it into the air

as Lisbon lights up in the reds and whites of Arsenal. The most successful women's club in English football are queens of Europe once again. They've had to wait 18 long years for it, but they have utterly deserved it. Beating a quite brilliant Barcelona side. And the smiles and the joy and the celebration for every single one of these heroines is utterly, utterly deserved. What a moment for Arsenal Football Club. It's just incredible. You've just got all the players there.

And the staff carrying each other, sat there enjoying the moment, so tight, so collective. Got a few Australian flags in there for Steph Catley, Kuni Kross and Caitlin Ford. And now they're singing to that famous anthem, We Are The Champions, all united, all together. You can just see what it means to them. What an achievement. And it's wonderful for so many of these players. You know, we see the goalscorer, Stina Black, Stenny is there, but you know, players like Lena Hurtig, Amanda Illistead, who are leaving the club at the end of this season. What a way to finish off this campaign

as the silver trophy is passed around. They all kissed it on the way through. And this is Arsenal's day. These are Arsenal celebrations. But but just a word Izzy on what this means for English women's football because as we say, they were the only side to win it back in 2007 from Britain, they're still the only side to win it, but for English women's football, how big is this that Arsenal have finally got the better that so many English teams haven't been able to do of Barcelona at the moment, but you know, Lyon in previous years, the German sides when they were at their top of the game.

How big is it for English women's football? It's huge, it's absolutely massive. You know, people tuning in, listening to this now, you know, wherever they are, back home or abroad. This is history that has just been made here in Lisbon because this Arsenal team have defied the odds, they won't have believed there was odds but they have defied the odds to dethrone this Barcelona team and I just think that they deserve every single ounce of this. There are so many little

subplots inside this you know context for Arsenal Women's Football Club but what it does for English Football I said two years ago in an interview on the BBC, that I still think we're a couple of years away from winning. And English club is a couple of years away from winning the Champions League. And we all thought it might have been Chelsea, but it hasn't been, it's been Arsenal. And I wasn't asked two years beyond that,

because I didn't know. But Arsenal have just done it, and they've set a precedent. What it does for Arsenal Football Club, what it does for English football, what it does for the WSL, no one will quite believe the impact that this will have. But right now this is not about the wider equation, this is about Arsenal and what they've done today and what they've done throughout the whole campaign has been absolutely brilliant. And this is a footnote Steve but an important footnote in the days to come and for next season.

They're now directly into the league phase as well, they are going to have to go through qualifying again, which in the Women's Champions League is really difficult and you can quite easily meet another giantess and get knocked out. Now, along with Chelsea, they are going to the league stage, which is coming in for next season. For the rest of the evening and I'm sure for the days to come, for these Arsenal fans, those listening to us on 5Live and BBC Sounds

and the fans lucky enough to be inside the stadium here in Lisbon. It is about celebrating European glory again after that long wait, 18 years as the players have all gone over to the Arsenal fans with that silver trophy. What a moment for Arsenal. And they have done it so incredibly, absolutely deserved. They're queens of Europe.

And Gilly Flaherty, because this is your Arsenal team back in 2007 as well, I think it's just worth reflecting these moments, these great things that we're seeing right now also give us the opportunity to remember the great work that's gone in in the past and Vic Akers and how everyone lifted and took Arsenal and took you and the players that you played with to the Champions League trophy. We can't forget that either. No, I'm just watching on my telly now, the cameras are on Kelly Smith, you know, one of the greatest players I've ever worn an Arsenal shirt but missed out on that final as well against Umayyad through to suspension

and a lot of people wrote Arsenal off because they didn't have Kelly Smith playing. So for her to be a part of this coaching side and again to be a part of a winning team it's special but I just think it's great for us the women now that they're able to have created their own history and no one everyone's still talking about that 2007 win but now they're going to be talking about this win in 2025 and it's huge for the club and hopefully it pushed them on especially in the WSL too. Lesbian lionesses Izzy Christensen. Barcelona got past Adelnada tonight. She's been saving that up all evening Steve I'm so glad that she was able to get here. I didn't even tell you about it but no it's brilliant it's absolutely brilliant I don't know where we go the Abba, which I can only assume is because of the winning goal score of Black's Denny has been Swedish. Lovely stuff, all of you.

Thank you very much, Indy, Gilly Flaherty, and inside the stadium, brilliant commentary, Izzy Christiansen and Vicky Sparks. That's it for this episode of the Football Daily. Also out now, 72 Plus, our EFL podcast, Aaron Paul and Joby McEnough reacting to Sunderland winning the championship playoff final at Wembley Stadium. As always thank you so much for listening. Barcelona got past Adelnada tonight.

Women's Football Weekly on the Football Daily. I'm Ben Haynes. I'm Ellen White. And I'm Jen Beattie. And on Tuesdays on the Football Daily we bring you the Women's Football Weekly. Really pleased with the fact we are now champions and we got this title. We had time to enjoy with the fans and we'll have some time with friends and family after the game. As we dive headfirst into all things WSL and beyond in the Women's game. Women's Football Weekly, only on the Football Daily. Listen now on BBC Sounds.