Champions League triumph will redefine how Arsenal see themselves

Gunners’ victory was built on a multi-layered courage that respected but was not overawed by Barcelona or by fatalism

QUEENS OF EUROPE: Arsenal's Katie McCabe (centre) celebrates with the trophy following victory after the final whistle in the UEFA Women's Champions League final at Estadio Jose Alvalade, in Lisbon, Portugal. Pic: Zed Jameson/PA Wire.

There is always a little more time than you think. A red number 7 blinks across the pitch from the fourth official’s board. Seven minutes of injury time: it’s a lot. Against Barcelona, it’s an age. Against this Barcelona, in this heat, in this game, it may as well be all of eternity.

But you push through. You pace yourself. Beth Mead goes down under a challenge; there’s 30 seconds right there. Kim Little rolls the ball up the left touchline to no one: eight seconds. Daphne van Domselaar hesitates over a free-kick, squeezing out those seconds like drops from a towel. You push through because whatever happens in these seven minutes, however those minutes make you suffer, seven minutes is still less than 18 years.