Just outside Arsenal tube station, pinned up against a wall next to a chip van, there is a poster depicting Alessia Russo and her Arsenal team-mates with the words ‘Champions’ emblazoned across it.
It is not for sale. It is simply a reminder to those passing by supporting the team in blue that which they so badly crave is currently held by their greatest rivals.
Chelsea have conquered so many realms in the past decade, but one of them remains untouched. The only one, the prized Champions League, is the one that seems to interminably elude them.
To rub salt in the wounds, it is their bitterest rivals who became the first English team, and still the only English team, to call themselves champions in 18 years.
And, at this rate, it will remain so for a little while longer, for Chelsea have given themselves an almighty task in overcoming this two-goal advantage next week at Stamford Bridge.
It felt poetic then, that the player who returned the crown to north London for the first time in nearly two decades was the first name on the scoresheet here at the Emirates on Tuesday night, in the first ever meeting between these two sides in this competition.
Alessia Russo scored Arsenal’s third against Chelsea in their Champions League quarter-final
Arsenal’s Swedish super striker Stina Blackstenius put the Gunners ahead here after a testy opening few minutes which saw Chelsea hit the woodwork twice
Arsenal’s Swedish super striker Stina Blackstenius, whose name will go down in local history for scoring the winning goal in Lisbon, put the Gunners ahead here after a testy opening few minutes which saw Chelsea hit the woodwork twice.
Alyssa Thompson and Lauren James had both come agonisingly close, but a free-kick awarded to Arsenal quickly ensured that the holders would be the ones controlling matters.
Katie McCabe, whose services will be deeply missed if she is to depart the club after 11 years this summer, sent a wonderful curling ball into the box and Blackstenius rushed forward and nodded in.
The goal appeared to visibly deflate the visitors, and Arsenal’s boisterous home crowd grew in clamour.
Ten minutes later, a straight-forward pass found an unmarked Chloe Kelly 25 yards out, and the 28-year-old did what she does best: popped up in an important moment with an important intervention.
Kelly lasted only an hour before she was replaced by her young protégé Olivia Smith, but her decisive, bouncing first-half strike which slipped and scrambled under her England team-mate Hannah Hampton ensured Arsenal’s advantage was sturdy.
‘Champions of England, you’ll never sing that,’ the 19,000 strong Emirates crowd taunted the visitors. They laughed as Erin Cuthbert uncharacteristically sent a free-kick straight out to touch. They jeered as Lauren James picked up a yellow card for a soft foul.
Kelly’s bouncing first-half strike which slipped and scrambled under her England team-mate Hannah Hampton ensured Arsenal’s advantage was sturdy
The decision to rule out Veerle Buurman’s goal for pushing Laia Codina at the back post was harsh
And they celebrated when Chelsea’s 19-year-old defender Veerle Buurman was adjudged for having pushed Arsenal’s Laia Codina from behind when jumping up to nod home from close range on the edge of half-time.
It was a harsh call, and one which VAR should probably have overturned despite their lengthy deliberation on the matter. But they stuck with the referee’s on-field decision, and Chelsea’s prospects looked rather bleak heading into the break at half-time.
Blues boss Sonia Bompastor fumed the decision after the match.
‘It’s always more difficult to complain about the referees when you lost the game, but it’s not good enough. When you are playing in the quarter-final of the Champions League, you need to respect more of this game,’ she said.
‘You need to respect more the players because they work hard every week to put a good performance on the pitch. And for sure, the first goal is a goal. I don’t see how you cannot allow it.
‘When a human makes a mistake, I think you can understand it a little bit more, but when there is the VR, it’s really difficult.’
In the second half, Lauren James was visibly riled up and perhaps lucky to escape a second yellow after bringing Emily Fox down late on.
But with the game trudging on towards a second period lacking drama, the England star briefly set it alite with a wonderful goal which surpassed Kelly’s for distance. After a brief touch, James sent a rocket into the top left Arsenal corner.
And yet Arsenal had no interest in giving up their two-goal cushion, and Alessia Russo finished clinically from inside the penalty area a few minutes later. The England forward picked up the Player of the Match trophy at the end for good measure.
Chelsea meanwhile have had a turbulent season, and Bompastor now has a week to ponder how to turn go about winning their most important of games.
‘Are we playing the world sevens tomorrow?’ she joked in her pre-match press conference when asked about her side’s training session the day before this game containing only eight outfield players.
But she knows that their current injury situation is no joke. Big names such as Nathalie Bjorn, Millie Bright and Aggie Beever-Jones remain out due to injury.
Australian striker Sam Kerr was ruled out of contention after a lengthy journey back from her homeland following defeat in the Asian Cup final to Japan. A jetlagged Ellie Carpenter only just managed to drag herself onto the bench, but remained unused.
The return of that pair, should at least set them in good stead for the grudge rematch.
And if not, there will be little surprise as to what the Arsenal fans will be singing the next time they meet.
