The Gunners lift the Champions League trophy after beating Barcelona 1-0 in the final in Lisbon [Joao Brav/SPP]

IT was the best “one-nil to the Arsenal” in a European final since the last one in Sweden 18 years ago and when the whistle blew in Lisbon on Saturday, the emotions were the same – shock and unalloyed joy, in that order.

Just as mighty Umea IK were left reeling by Vic Akers’ women in red and white in the first of their two-legged final in 2007, this time it was odds-on favourites Barcelona who were forced to take stock of a loss that few, if any, saw coming.

“Every single person did their job today and they weren’t getting through us,” a buzzing Caitlin Foord told the New Journal after Renee Slegers’ underdogs had tossed aside that tag and played their part in a Champions League final worthy of the name.

The players knew it, the fans did too, and they celebrated as one, dancing and singing in the Estadio Jose Alvalade’s sunniest corner, a hot spot that had just become “North London Forever”.

And what fans there were. On Sweden’s eastern Baltic coast all those years ago, I could have fitted the travelling Arsenal supporters I met into the back of my old Ford Cortina. This weekend, the streets of Portugal’s capital city were awash with truckloads of Gooners, the names of Williamson, Russo, Foord et al, emblazoned across their backs.

I met senior nurses from the Whittington, groups of pals hailing from Archway and Highbury Corner, women who met playing football together decades ago, diehard Gooners who were now ardent fans of Slegers’ side as well.

The media cares now too. Back then, I snapped photos while frantically noting down talking points because multitasking was often the only way to bring our readers reports with images before women’s football hit the media mainstream.

There is no need for that now, and so I sat amid a sea of reporters, joining two of the very best, Sophie Downey of GirlsontheBall and the Guardian’s Suzy Wrack to consider Arsenal’s achievement.

Because down on the pitch, the years had melted away. In the same way that Akers’ class of 2007 calmly faced down Umea in the Gammliavallen Stadium, this Arsenal had coolly unpicked three-time champions and holders Barcelona here.

It didn’t seem to matter that they were facing World Cup and Ballon d’Or winners, or that most of the 38,350-strong crowd were whistling, cheering, booing Barcelona fans.

With Arsenal’s 5,000 loyal followers roaring them on until their throats were dry, Slegers’ talented players had stuck to their meticulous game plan.

And when Stina Blackstenius’s fine second half goal was the only mark on the scoresheet by full-time, it was job done.

In 2007, the joy that followed Alex Scott’s 91st-minute winner was tempered by the thought that Umea could turn it around at Borehamwood.

They didn’t; after the most exciting goalless draw I have witnessed in 26 years of covering Arsenal for this newspaper, it was the Gunners – including the current crop’s backroom coach Kelly Smith – who claimed the UEFA Cup in front of almost 3,500 supporters that sunny April day.

Since rebranded as the Champions League, nowadays there is only one showpiece final, so Barcelona’s devastation at losing their title was irreversible.

But Arsenal could vent their happiness, making a beeline for their fans and later sashaying through the press zone, Leah Williamson dragging along a giant boombox followed by players clad in shirts bearing the legend “Champions 25”.

“Everyone was crying,” admitted striker Alessia Russo. “It means so much to all the people involved in this club.”

In 2007, having followed Arsenal’s European journey home and away in years past, I was invited into the Meadow Park changing room to grab a photo of the ecstatic players.

Akers had been too superstitious to supply champagne that day. He was there for the celebrations on Saturday, flown over by Arsenal to watch 36-year-old Slegers – an Arsenal Academy player working under his then assistant Emma Hayes in 2007 – add another winning chapter to the club’s story.

“It means so much to all the people who have built towards this over so many years,” she said.

“But it also means so much for the future because it motivates us and shows what we’re capable of.”