The successes in Leah Williamson’s career keep on coming

Eighteen years on from walking out as a mascot for Arsenal in their Champions League final, Leah Williamson lifted the trophy for the Gunners.

The Newport Pagnell star denied Barcelona a third consecutive final victory thanks to Steina Blackstenius’ 74th minute winner. Arsenal were the underdogs heading into the game, but claimed the one medal which was missing from Williamson’s collection.

Back in 2007, Arsenal’s last European triumph, Williamson was a mascot for the side but has since gone on to lift every major trophy with the team. As England Lionesses captain too, she lifted the European Championships with her country, and the Champions League win on Saturday adds more silverware to the haul.

“I can’t sum it up, I’m not poetic enough!” she said afterwards. “We turned up to try and do a job, and we’re going home with a trophy.

“Every domestic trophy I’ve won with Arsenal, and I’m proud of that. But 18 years is a long time to wait for something. We took so much pride in being here, and we’ve just done it again.

“Barcelona are an incredible team, but we didn’t put a foot wrong all night. I didn’t want it to happen in the 87th minute, so I’m so glad we didn’t. I have a rule never to look at the scoreboard, but I broke it about three times! It’s just incredible.

“The fans have been incredible, they’re with us, they’re here in their thousands. We’re a club which respects that, and we drive women’s football on which I’m very proud of. You need to win on the pitch, and we did that today.”

Williamson will have precious little time to celebrate the victory though, with national duties calling this week as she joins up with Serena Wiegman’s England squad for games against Portugal and Spain coming up.

She added: “We’ll try and celebrate it, but we’ve got an England game to go to, and we go again!”