Arsenal Women have many reasons to be proud after UWCL semi-final defeat by Michelle
Regrettably, Arsenal’s journey in the Champions League came to an end on Monday night following a highly competitive second leg of the semi-finals against Wolfsburg at Emirates Stadium, which concluded with a score of 3-2 (5-4 aggregate).
Despite a valiant effort from Jonas Eidevall’s team throughout the match, in front of a record-breaking sold-out crowd of 60,063 at Emirates, our Gunners were unable to secure a place in the final as Wolfsburg managed to score in the final minutes of extra time. Nonetheless, Arsenal displayed a spirited, resiliently outstanding performance from start to finish.
- Arsenal v Wolfsburg was only the third time in history that a UEFA women’s club semi-final has gone into extra-time – the first since 2009/10 in fact, when Turbine Potsdam and Duisburg (that included Wolfsburg captain Alexa Popp) battled into extra-time. Both those previous ties (the other one in 2002/03 involved Frankfurt and Umeå) ended in a penalty shoot-out, which is exactly where everyone thought this match was heading and, but for the late goal in extra-time from Wolfsburg’s Pauline Bremer, that’s where the match would have gone..
- This was the first ever Arsenal tie in this competition to go to extra time since the first ever Women’s Champions League in 2001/02 quarter-final second leg at Toulouse, when Arsenal Women lost their first knockout encounter in this competition.
- The attendance of 60,063 is a record:
- for attendance at an Arsenal Women match
- for a women’s club game in the United Kingdom
- fourth best attendance ever in the history of the Women’s Champions League – actually the highest UWCL attendance outside of Barcelona’s Camp Nou which has a capacity of over 90,000!.
- Jen Beattie and Alexa Popp are both veterans of the UWCL – both were involved when Wolfsburg won the 2012/13 semi-final between these clubs, but also when Popp’s Duisburg defeated Arsenal in the 2009/10 quarter-final.
- Wolfsburg are into their sixth UEFA Women’s Champions League final (joint-second all-time with Frankfurt) and are aiming for their third title when they meet Barcelona in Eindhoven – Wolfsburg are a great team and Arsenal’s peformance against these giants of the German Bundesliga was admirable to say the very least..
I know everyone’s hurting right now but there is no shame in Arsenal being knocked out of the tournament by Wolfsburg, at this stage in the competition. Maybe it was a dream too far, to hope that our Gunners could reach the Final (particularly given the long list of injured players) but, in reality, they were only a whisker away..
Now, Arsenal need to lick their wounds and climb back into the Women’s Super League ring – they still have a lot to do this season in the WSL as they need to finish in the top 3 to even be involved in the UWCL next season..
COYGW!
Michelle Maxwell
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