da esoccer bet： Stina Blackstenius' dramatic extra-time goal won Arsenal the Continental Cup and denied Chelsea the chance of a quadruple in Emma Hayes' final season.
da heads bet： Article continues below
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Arsenal beat Chelsea 1-0 in Conti Cup finalBlackstenius scored only goal in extra-timeChelsea's quadruple dream over for another yearGettyTELL ME MORE
Chelsea thought they'd taken the lead midway through the first half when Mayra Ramirez beat Manuela Zinsberger with a fine strike from range, but VAR intervened and ruled it out for a handball in the build-up by Erin Cuthbert. It was the closest the game got to a goal in a first half peppered with half-chances, with Arsenal's best opening in normal time coming after the break when Cloe Lacasse was unable to beat Hannah Hampton one-on-one.
Lauren James had a great opportunity to open the scoring as the potential of extra-time loomed, put through on goal by Guro Reiten's clever scooped pass, but the angle closed as she waited to take the shot and that worked in Zinsberger's favour, who made herself big to thwart the England star.
To extra-time we went, then, but not before some really horrible scenes as Arsenal midfielder Frida Maanum went down off the ball and was in need of serious medical attention before being stretchered off.
The Arsenal fans did all they could to fire up their team as the game understandably fell flat in light of a really worrying situation, and it was the Gunners who created the best chance in extra-time, as Blackstenius blasted a golden chance over the bar after Alessia Russo cleverly put her through on goal.
That miss wouldn't come back to haunt the Swede, though, as it was she who scored the only goal of the game with just four minutes of extra-time remaining, her shot too powerful for Hampton to stop as Arsenal retained their Conti Cup title.
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Arsenal are the only English team to have won the quadruple, doing so back in 2007, and so there will be a little extra satisfaction for the Gunners with this triumph as it means they have denied Chelsea the chance to match that feat this year. The Blues are still fighting for three trophies though, in the league, the FA Cup and the Champions League.
Getty ImagesTHE MVP
It wasn't Blackstenius' best game and she missed a huge chance before eventually breaking the deadlock, but it's hard to deny her the feat of MVP after she scored the goal that decided this final. The Swede ran hard as she always does, stretched the Chelsea defence and came up with the match-winning moment to ensure Arsenal's season doesn't end without silverware.
GettyTHE BIG LOSER
In a tight and even contest which became more a war of attrition, there were no outstandingly bad performers, but it was Ramirez on the end of some bad luck when she had a wonderful strike ruled out through no fault of her own. There was no disputing the decision to disallow her superb goal, as it was a clear handball by Cuthbert, but she will have been frustrated all the same.