Mariona Caldentey: The Barcelona icon who holds the key to Arsenal upsetting the Catalans in the Women's Champions League final

There was a lot of hype about Caldentey’s arrival in England, but fans of the Gunners – and appreciative neutrals – would have to wait a little bit for her to fully hit her stride. That was not so much because she took time to adapt, as the 29-year-old showed her class almost from the get-go, but because of factors out of her control.

To start, there was the poor form that Arsenal began the season with. One win from their first four WSL outings and a disastrous 5-2 loss at Bayern Munich would lead to head coach Jonas Eidevall stepping down, meaning the job of interim Renee Slegers was, first, to steady the ship.

Caldentey’s position has changed a fair bit, too. She was signed by Eidevall to be a wide forward but, under Slegers, she has also played as a No.10 and as a deeper midfielder. Again, this fluctuation hasn’t exactly stopped her from creating memorable moments, but it is since settling into the latter role more consistently that she has really excelled, perfectly complementing another wonderful midfielder in Kim Little.

“She’s a very good player herself but she makes everyone around her better as well, so I think she sets up situations so well,” Slegers said last month, speaking about Caldentey’s move to that deeper role. “She recognises overload, she recognises the right pass. She can take herself out of situations on the dribble. She’s really good at passing and moving, and so everything that happens around her is, most of the time, a good situation.

"Having her in the middle of the pitch, being able to impact so much of our game, and being creative in those moments from central areas, I think, has been very positive for us.”

It has placed further emphasis on the adaptation Caldentey has had to do – and has done exceptionally. “I'm still the same player who likes to have the ball and defend with intensity, but the biggest difference is the position I play in at Arsenal, more central,” the 29-year-old explained this week. “The English box-to-box, the fact that it's a more crazy or uncontrolled game, has meant that I have to adapt physically.”

It's an assimilation that Caldentey backed herself to make when she departed Catalunya after 10 remarkable years. “Can I be at a great level in another context? Can I show what I am?” she said, recounting her thought process in an interview with the Guardian earlier this season. “A lot of games at Barcelona were against a low block: attack, attack, attack, league games where we hardly had to defend. It was more tactical. Here, it’s more open, more transitory, bigger distances, space. It’s more physical, the football’s more mad, out of control. I don’t know how many games we’ve finished 4-3.

“And I like that,” she added. “Anything different I can add makes me more complete.”

It’s hard not to argue that Caldentey is, indeed, complete. As expected, her attacking statistics make for great reading. In the WSL this season, only two players were directly involved in more goals than the Spain star, and only two created more chances than she did. In open play, no one carved out more opportunities. She’s had similar joy in Europe; only Barca’s Claudia Pina has more goals than the Arsenal star in the Champions League this season - with her on the scoresheet in the remarkable comebacks against both Real Madrid, in the quarter-finals, and Lyon, in the semi-finals.

It's when you look at the other side of the ball, though, that Caldentey's quality raises an eyebrow. She ranked fifth in the WSL this term for how often she won possession, with no one doing so more often in the final third, and joint-third for tackles won. In Europe, she ranks joint-fourth for possession won, joint-third for duels won and leads the way for tackles won. This is one of the best playmakers in the world – and she has the work rate and numbers of a disruptive defensive midfielder.

“She’s a total footballer for me,” Slegers said recently – and understandably so. “She’s got everything. I think she’s got intelligence, technical abilities, she’s got an extremely high work rate, she’s a winner. I’m very impressed with her. She brings a lot to our environment.”

Those qualities have been central to Arsenal’s turnaround under Slegers. With Eidevall at the helm, the Gunners struggled significantly against low-blocks, but Caldentey’s ability to unlock even the sternest defences has been massive, allowing her new team to overcome that issue and reliably pick up points on their way to a second-placed league finish that secures European football for another year. Indeed, after Slegers took over in October, only champions Chelsea won more points in the WSL.

That is down to a lot of things. The Gunners boss has made important tweaks to steer things back on course, the consistency of team selection has coincided with a consistency in results and a lot of key players have been in great form – such as Alessia Russo, Katie McCabe and January signing Chloe Kelly. But Caldentey, and Slegers’ discovery of her perfect place in this team, is one of the biggest reasons.

What does Caldentey’s impact look like in Saturday’s final, then? Up against the winners of the last two Champions League titles, she is certainly unlikely to see as much of the ball as she would like. That will not faze her, though. “Barca are a super mature team who are going to try to dominate us," she said this week. "But I don't think you have to be afraid, but adapt."

That’s what the Spaniard has been doing all season long. The language, the weather and the food are all elements of life in London that have presented obstacles, with Caldentey even admitting that driving on the other side of the road caused her an issue. “In the first few days, I blew a tyre on the curb!” she told La Vanguardia last month. But despite also facing a new style of football, she has overcome it all to be the best player in England this season.

Now, she and her team have one more hurdle to jump before the campaign concludes. Caldentey might be Barcelona through and through, to the degree that she’s admitted she will not celebrate if she scores on Saturday, but help guide the Gunners to glory and she’ll live forever as an Arsenal legend, not just a Barca one.