Arsenal continue to be a sharp thorn in the side of the European champions, Barcelona, and they dug deep to hold on to a draw at the Camp Nou on Thursday night. Frida Maanum put the Gunners ahead despite a hugely dominant performance from Barcelona, but Caroline Graham Hansen's equaliser ensured the spoils would be shared.
Barcelona have been formidable when playing at the club's main stadium, winning nine and drawing twice, against Chelsea in the semi-finals in 2023 and now Arsenal.
"Grit, resilience, discipline, clarity, communication, leadership, bravery – that's a lot of words," said Renée Slegers. "There's a lot of really good things in this performance that we definitely want to build on."
The last time these two teams met, Arsenal lifted the Champions League trophy at Barcelona's expense after the most perfect defensive performance and a Stina Blackstenius goal in Lisbon in 2025. It was a far less perfect defensive performance this time but Arsenal showed the guts they have been missing at times this season, against the team that retook their crown last season, and showed they can play ugly when needed.
There was one change to the team that earned a 2-1 win against Liverpool on Sunday, but it was a significant one. Olivia Smith was replaced by Maanum and the Norwegian slotted into the No 10 role with Alessia Russo, who has scored 12 goals in nine games for club and country, moving into the centre-forward position.
It was the England forward's play on the left that set up the shock first-half goal that temporarily silenced the crowd. She beat two and worked the ball to Maanum. Barcelona got the ball away but Russo was there again and delivered a perfect cross across the face of goal for Caitlin Foord. The Australian forced a close-range save from Cata Coll only for Maanum to power in the loose ball.
The pocket of travelling fans behind plexiglass in the upper tier were jubilant. About 1,000 had travelled despite the late switch of the match to Thursday due to a 24-hour general strike in Spain on Wednesday.
The goal came decidedly against the run of play but Barcelona struggled to capitalise on their first-half dominance. Ewa Pajor and Graham Hansen were particularly threatening as Barcelona targeted Arsenal's left, made up of the less experienced Taylor Hinds and Lisa Baum.
The scoreline at the break was a little unfathomable based on the run of play and the domestic fortunes of both sides. While Arsenal languish in sixth in the WSL, 12 points behind the league leaders, Manchester City, Barcelona have won nine of their 10 games in Liga F, having scored 41 goals and built a five-point lead over their nearest rivals, Real Madrid.
Arsenal's gameplan felt familiar. It was as if they had studied the blueprint religiously followed by teams that have sat back in a low block and frustrated them week-in, week-out in the WSL this season.
Aitana Bonmatí, the three-time Ballon d'Or winner, was surprisingly relegated to the bench but her arrival shortly before the hour elevated Barcelona's threat, causing Arsenal's defending to look even more calamitous at times, and lifted the mood in a frustrated stadium.
Three minutes after her arrival they were level. Esmee Brugts found an unmarked Graham Hansen on the right and she cut inside and swept in past Misa Rodríguez.
It was no surprise that Baum and Hinds, who had been run ragged, were removed soon after, with former Barcelona player Ona Batlle and Smith, Arsenal's record signing, replacing them.
"If we were to do it again, we'd try to stay on the ball for longer and play our game even more," said Slegers. "Definitely there were moments in the first half and in the second half where we were really, really dangerous and created big chances, open chances. I'm just really pleased with the way we played the game tonight because it's a very different game to what we usually play and that we can do it this way is a big boost for us as a team and that's what we're going to take with us going forward."