Arsenal’s Stina Blackstenius with the Women’s Champions League trophy
Stina Blackstenius scored Arsenal’s winner in the Women’s Champions League final. She also scored in the winner in their 2024 League Cup final victory. Photograph: Armando França/AP
Sweden attacker has a knack for scoring in big games and her former coaches are not surprised
Tom Garry
Of the many enduring images of Arsenal’s celebrations after their Women’s Champions League triumph against Barcelona, one in particular emphasised the magnitude and rarity of the contribution made by their goalscorer, Stina Blackstenius.
The Arsenal striker was photographed holding the trophy aloft alongside Alex Scott, scorer of the only goal in their previous European final 18 years earlier. As the pair posed together, it hit home that Blackstenius had scored one of the two biggest goals in the club’s history.
The 29-year-old Sweden striker’s name will now be immortalised in Arsenal Women folklore and, despite predominantly playing as a substitute in the past two seasons, she has developed a knack for producing in the biggest moments, scoring the winning goal in both the 2023 and 2024 League Cup finals.
Mary Earps made indelible mark with England and leaves big gloves to fill Suzanne Wrack Read more
It might seem at odds with her Women’s Super League return of five league goals this season – she has never hit double figures in the league for Arsenal in a campaign – but to those who have followed her career her success in Lisbon was no surprise. Martin Sjögren was in charge at the Swedish top-flight club Linköping when he signed a 16-year-old Blackstenius from Sweden’s lower leagues, where she had averaged more than a goal per game, before their 2013 season
“She was a very big talent, but very, very shy,” he says. “Not on the pitch, but talking to the media especially, she didn’t like that. But that was off the pitch; on the pitch, she played with the same characteristics as she has now, she had a lot of speed, a lot of physicality and was scoring a lot of goals.
“During those years she had scored so many goals more or less everyone knew about Stina. Linköping were the closest elite team from where she played, so it was quite natural for her to join.
“She was very physical for her age, she had the physique. That’s always been important for Stina, to be able to run, to tackle, to work hard. You can still see that in her, it’s a big part of her game.”
Arsenal’s Stina Blackstenius scores the only goal of the Women’s Champions League final in Lisbon.
Arsenal’s Stina Blackstenius scores the only goal of the Women’s Champions League final in Lisbon. Photograph: Violeta Santos Moura/Reuters
Just over two and a half years after moving to Linköping, Blackstenius made her senior Sweden debut and she has scored 35 times in 115 appearances. Sjögren, who is now coaching Hammarby, says: “She’s always been the type of player that can create chances, score chances, more or less on her own, because of her speed and because she can finish with her left and right foot.
“What I saw in her years ago, I still see that today. This is what she still does, but at a much higher level. It [Saturday’s winner over Barcelona] was a nice moment, especially for Stina. She’s a hard worker so she deserves the best.”
After breaking through with Linköping, Blackstenius went to the French league with Montpellier before a return to Linköping and then a 2020 switch to Hacken, who were then known as Kopparbergs/Göteborg, where she won the title in her first campaign and scored in the 2021 Swedish cup final.
She became a transfer target for Arsenal and the head coach who brought her to north London in 2022, Jonas Eidevall, says: “I don’t think it is a coincidence that she has scored in all three finals. She has a really good intelligence in how to find a good position in-front of the goal.”
Be the first to comment