Of the many enduring images of Arsenal’s celebrations after their Women’s Champions League triumph over 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, the scorer of the only goal in their only previous European final 18 years earlier, and 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 delivering in the biggest moments, scoring the winnerin the 2024 League Cup finalandin the 2023 League Cup final.
It might seem at odds with her Women’s Super League return of only five league goals this season – she has never hit double figures in the league for Arsenal in a single campaign – but to those who have followed her career since she was in her mid-teens, 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, prior to their 2013 season, and he recalls: “She was a very big talent but very, very shy. Not on the pitch, but talking to the media especially, she didn’t like that and she was very shy, 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 she was scoring a lot of goals.
“She was a big talent back then [before signing for Linköping]. During those years she had scored so many goals in the lower leagues, so more or less everyone knew about Stina and Linköping were the closest elite team from where she played, so it was quite natural for her to join Linköping. She was very physical – for her age, she had the physique already, so 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.”
Just over two-and-half years after moving to Linköping, Blackstenius would make her senior Sweden debut, and since then she has gone on to score 35 times in 115 senior internationals for Sweden. Sjögren, who is currently 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 both her left and her right foot.
“Still, what I saw in her years ago, I still see that today, this is what she still does, but at a much higher level. She’s still the same type of player. It [Saturday’s winner over Barcelona] was a nice moment especially for Stina, she’s a hard worker so I really think she deserves the best.”
After breaking through Linköping, Blackstenius’s career would take her 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. Soon she was 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 during her time at Arsenal. She has a really good intelligence in how to find a good position in-front of the goal.”
Sign up toMoving the Goalposts
No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a twice-weekly roundup of the wonderful world of women’s football
after newsletter promotion
Eidevall, whostepped down from his role at Arsenallast October and is now coaching the San Diego Wave, who are second in the NWSL, says: “Stina had proved so many times with the Swedish national team that she is a player for the big games, scoring deciding goals in knockout matches.
“I think she has improved her technical level dramatically since she arrived at Arsenal, which also means that she’s a much more well-rounded forward who can finish in more ways and operate both behind and in front of the back line.”
Speaking after the final whistle in Lisbon, Blackstenius insisted on praising the “team performance” rather than wanting to talk about herself, and told TNT Sports: “I just can’t believe it, all of it. I just can’t believe we won the Champions League and we get to celebrate.” Even in that, proudest of moments, she still came across a little shy in a live post-match interview, but in front of goal, she is fearless.