Barcelona are looking to cement their legacy and prove why they are one of the best European sides of all time when they face Arsenal in the Women's Champions League final.

They travel to Lisbon looking to win a third consecutive European crown, but Arsenal, who have shown their mettle more than once this season, stand in their way.

Barca are the team to beat, having already wrapped up the Liga F title and Supercopa de Espana Femenina this season. And with a Copa de la Reina final still to come, a quadruple is in their sights once more.

The Blaugrana brushed aside Women's Super League champions Chelsea 8-2 on aggregate in the Champions League semi-finals, but Arsenal will be hoping their resilience can cause some problems.

They came from behind to beat last season's finalists Lyon in the semi-finals and progress to just their second Champions League final, after winning the competition in 2006-07.

Eighteen years is comfortably the biggest gap between two appearances in the showpiece match of the competition by any team.

But Barcelona have won each of their last nine Champions League games, and are looking to become the first team to win 10 in a row in the competition in the same campaign.

Using Opta data, we look at what to expect from Saturday's final. 

What's expected?

There is no doubt that Arsenal face an uphill battle to get their second European title. The unstoppable force of the Catalan champions has humbled some of the best teams in Europe in the last five seasons.

History may be repeated here as they continue to rival Lyon's record of being the best team in European history, as the Opta supercomputer gives Barcelona a win probability of 56.5%.

Arsenal are given just a 21.7% chance of a victory, with a narrowly better chance of a draw, at 21.8%, which would mean extra time and potentially penalties.

But in a one-off game, anything can happen, and Arsenal should not be written off. Teams that have already done that this season have fallen victim to the resilience of the north London club.

History beckons

This will be Barcelona's sixth appearance in the Women's Champions League final, and fifth in a row, with only Lyon (11) appearing in more.

Barca beat Wolfsburg and Lyon in 2023 and 2024, respectively, and could become just the second team to win the competition three seasons in a row after Lyon, who won it in five straight between 2016 and 2020.

This will also be their 100th game in European competition, and with the fixture gods at play once more, they face Arsenal, who were their first opponents in 2012-13 when they met in the round of 32.

Although there was a change of guard in the dugout at the beginning of the season, it has not changed the side's dominance both domestically and in Europe.

Pere Romeu could become the 11th manager to win the Champions League in their debut campaign and first since Sonia Bompastor with Lyon in 2021-22.

Three of the last four winning managers have been Spaniards, doing so with Barcelona: Lluis Cortes in 2021 and Jonatan Giraldez in 2023 and 2024. 

He will also be aiming to secure his 10th win in his 11th Champions League game as a manager (L1) – only Jean-Luc Vasseur (won the first 10) has reached that mark in fewer matches.

Barcelona's Alexia Putellas has scored in three of her five final appearances in the competition (2021, 2022 and 2024). Only Ada Hegerberg (2016, 2018, 2019, 2022) and Alexandra Popp (2014, 2016, 2020, 2023) have ever scored a final goal in four different editions of the competition, a record she will be looking to equal.

But history is not just beckoning for Barcelona if they lift the trophy. Arsenal's Renee Slegers is aiming to become the first Dutch manager to win the Women's Champions League, and third overall across the men's or women's competition, after Louis van Gaal (1995 with Ajax) and Frank Rijkaard (2006 with Barcelona).

The Comeback queens…

The Gunners have shown next-level resilience this year after battling back from the brink more than once to progress through the rounds. It was an early loss in the group stages to Bayern Munich that triggered a change of manager, and in form.

With such a turnaround under Slegers, the Gunners are the first team ever to reach the final of the Champions League despite losing the first leg of both their quarter-final (vs Real Madrid) and semi-final (vs Lyon) ties.

Slegers' side really have been the comeback queens, and Arsenal became only the fourth team to lose the first leg of a UWCL semi-final tie at home but still reach the final after Turbine Potsdam and Eintracht Frankfurt in 2005-06, and Barcelona in 2023-24.

However, Arsenal will not want to go behind in this one, as the team that scored first in the final since 2018 have won the competition five of seven times.

Key to the team's resilience has been the form of Alessia Russo and Mariona Caldentey, who will be key in Arsenal's attempts to thwart Barcelona on Saturday in Lisbon.

The Arsenal duo have scored seven goals each in the UWCL this season, with only Vivianne Miedema in 2019-20 (10) and Kim Little in 2009-10 (nine), both for the Gunners, ever scoring more times in a campaign for an English club.

Arsenal brought Caldentey to London in the summer, hoping she could bring the club European success, and she has delivered in her first season.

She is the only current Arsenal player to have ever featured in a UWCL final, playing in five for Barcelona between 2019 and 2024. The Barca squad, meanwhile, have made 48 collective appearances in finals.

This will no doubt be a daunting task for Arsenal, but they will be confident in their ability to show up in the big games this season. Barca have also not been infallible this season, losing to Manchester City in the group stages and Madrid in Liga F.

Who can find the edge?

This will be the fifth meeting between Arsenal and Barcelona in the UWCL, with the Gunners winning both legs of a round of 32 tie in 2012-13 (3-0 away, 4-0 home), before Barca won both group stage matches in the 2021-22 campaign (4-1 home, 4-0 away).

The Gunners have a good record against Spanish opposition in the competition, progressing from all four of their knockout stage ties against such teams.

They already came from behind to eliminate Madrid in the quarter-finals. Only Lyon can boast a better 100% progression rate against teams from a particular nation in the competition (five v Italian clubs). 

But, Barcelona's star-studded squad have shown again and again why they are the team to beat this season.

They rank first in all key attacking areas in the competition this season, averaging the most goals (4.4), shots (23.1), shots on target (9.9) and xG per game (2.9), as well as having the best conversion rate (19.1%).

They are the highest scorers in this season's Champions League, netting 44 goals (Lyon second-best with 28). They have created 29.2 expected goals (xG), outperforming it by 14.8. Only Wolfsburg (2013-14) ever netted more in a single campaign (45).

Overall, Barcelona have had 231 shots, another competition high, as well as the third-most big chances in the competition this term, with 43, but they have scored the most, netting 25 of them. 

Arsenal have scored 25 goals, the third-best tally in the competition from an xG of 22.2 (overperformance of 2.8). They will need to make sure they take their chances because, as they showed against Chelsea, Barca are ruthless.

However, the Gunners have had just 134 shots across their 10 matches, the fifth-best tally in the competition. Their shot conversion rate of 18.7% is second best, behind only Barca.

Arsenal have had the second-most big chances (44), with only Lyon (58) managing more, though they have only scored 19 of those.

As well as being lethal in attack, Barcelona have the joint-best defensive record in the competition, conceding just seven goals (level with Lyon). They have also faced the fewest shots (73), allowing an expected goals against (xGA) of 6.3.

Conversely, Arsenal have conceded 14 goals, allowing 10.9 xGA, and have faced 97 shots overall. Barca have only kept four clean sheets across their 10 matches so far, while Arsenal have had three shutouts.

Arsenal will hope they can count on their number one, Daphne van Domselaar, who missed the last three WSL games of the season and has not featured since the semi-final win over Lyon.

Among goalkeepers to have played five or more games in the Champions League this season, only Van Domselaar (81.8%) has a better save rate than Barcelona's Cata Coll (74.1%), though the Gunners have not started the same keeper in back-to-back games since MD2-MD4 of the group stage.