When Arsenal signed Mariona Caldentey from Barcelona in the summer of 2024, they knew they were getting one of the most acclaimed players in women’s football: a serial Champions League winner, a World Cup winner the previous year. There were high expectations.

In her first season, she surpassed those expectations: being voted the Women’s Super League (WSL) Player of the Season, and inspiring Arsenal to Champions League success.

Before this weekend’s Champions League semi-final against Lyon, Caldentey sat down with The Athletic to look through some of her most famous goals and assists, and discuss her journey from Mallorca to north London.

The biggest game in football. I’m interested in how this move works out, because you know you’re up against Lucy Bronze, who moves into midfield and loses the ball.

Yeah, I think the idea of playing me as a winger is a bit like being the fourth midfielder, and that’s why normally, when I have the ball I just dribble inside and then the full-back — here Olga — would just run up and down the whole game, like it’s playing with no winger. We have played together a lot, and she just ran, and screamed to me when she’s ready to receive the ball. It was a great finish.

Presumably you know she’s coming at quite an early stage here. And so what’s your thought process? Are you trying to occupy the defender and create space?

Yeah, I’m trying to give her time to arrive, and try to keep her (points at Jess Carter) engaged to me. Then Olga comes with higher speed, and the defender needed to stop because I was slowing down the ball. So I think that gives the advantage to Olga in that moment.

It’s early in the game. You are so excited, but you don’t want to be too excited because there’s still a long way to go. In the World Cup… you don’t know if you’re going to be there again in the final, it’s like, ‘It’s not done, there still a job to do’.

There was another final that year you got an assist in. Maybe an ugly goal, but a beautiful moment.

It’s weird. I tried to finish twice. The first one, I didn’t really hit the ball, or hit it wrong. Two or three times, I couldn’t find the goal, so then, well, yeah, then someone else needs to do it, because I couldn’t do it! I’m losing balance, so just giving it to that player who is coming and can finish clearly, and better than what I did.

And the interesting thing about this final, I think I’m right in saying you were playing as the No 9.

I was playing as a No 9… I’m not sure because it’s the 70th minute here. So in that moment, I think I was a winger already, but I started as a striker.

And how does that suit you, because I’ve seen Barcelona and Spain do that a few times. Is it similar to playing on the left, in that you’re the extra midfielder as much as the No 9?

Yeah, even if I start from the wing or from the 9, the idea is basically to try to overload the midfield. And with three up top, two of them need to be ‘running’ players, and then the other one can be the extra midfielder. But it’s basically the same role. I think in the past, we struggled a bit to get the balance – always, everyone goes to the feet. I think when we had those two (running) players, it was when we became really dangerous.

And it feels like the teams you play for, Spain and Barcelona before, you often do that with substitutes, whether it was Salma Paralluelo coming on in the World Cup or Athenea del Castillo, it feels like you can inject something different and maybe when the opponents are tired, that is often what brings the breakthrough.

Yeah, with Salma or Athenea, if I’m a defender, running for 70 or 80 minutes, you’re already quite tired and players with pace coming on must be so hard. I think it’s something we learned and improved for Barca and Spain — it’s not enough just to have the ball. You need to have a purpose with the ball, and play with players who can run… like here, Frido, she was a left-back in that moment. Then it’s more unpredictable and hard to defend.

Obviously, the first two goals this day were scored by Patri Guijarro, who you played with from a very young age.

I remember when I was in Mallorca and playing with boys’ teams, I had a game away from my town, and before our match I was watching another game and there was one girl. She was the best on the team. And it was Patri, and that was the first time I saw her. Then, we played in the Balearic ‘national team’, and then the Spanish youth team, then we played together in Collerense, then we played together in La Masia (Barcelona’s academy).

We lived together for five years, maybe. We were helping each other a lot because when we shared a flat, the two of us were at uni. So the one who was a bit more free was cooking for the two of us, the other one went for the food shop. We became really close, and then our families, of course, are good with each other as well because my mum and her mum sometimes fly together. So, yeah, it’s special.

And with Cata Coll as well, Mallorca seems a good place for developing footballers?