Arsenal v Real Madrid Femenino Preview

03/25/2025 04:00 PM

THE LOWDOWN
Arsenal face Real Madrid at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final chasing a 2-0 deficit. The result of the first leg, played on a quagmire in the Madrid rain, was a surprise. At 1-0 Arsenal were perhaps a little unfortunate and struggled to move Madrid's defensive block around in the unctuous conditions.

The Gunners were very guilty on the second goal and leave themselves a mountain to climb in North London. However, on a pristine pitch and with a large, engaged crowd behind them, Arsenal absolutely can overturn this deficit. But they will have to be close to perfect to do it.

Especially as Madrid carry so much transitional threat in the shape of Caicedo and Weir with Signe Bruun leading the line. Madrid will bunker in and look to hit Arsenal on the break, something they managed expertly on Sunday when they beat Barcelona for the first time in their five-year history.

There is no hiding that this is a pivotal game for Arsenal's season with no other major trophy in reach, they were favourites to advance to the semi-final prior to the first leg. Now they have it all to do, however, Madrid are not used to playing in front of crowds like the one we will see on Wednesday night and the fans can play a really big part in the effort to overturn the first leg score.

TEAM NEWS

Lotte Wubben-Moy is Arsenal’s only absentee for this game, with Kim Little passed fit after a slight ankle turn on Saturday. Laia Codina is fit enough to return to the squad.

Available Squad
Goalkeepers: 1.Zinsberger 14.van Domselaar 40.Williams
Defenders: 2.Fox 5.L.Codina 6.Williamson 7.Catley 11.McCabe 22.Nighswonger 28.Ilestedt 62.Reid
Midfielders: 8.Mariona 10.Little 12.L.Maanum 13.Walti 16.Kafaji 21.Pelova 32.Cooney-Cross
Forwards: 9.Mead 17.Hurtig 18.Kelly 19.Foord 23.Russo 25.Blackstenius

A WORD FROM THE BOSS
I think us together with the fans when we’re at our best, we can create something magical and they give us that extra height, so we really thrive with that. So everything is set up for us to perform, but then we still think about ourselves, what we bring to the game tomorrow. We have a style of play where we want to be on the ball a lot, where we want to move the ball with lots of passes and of course it’s got to be easier on a golf course than on rocks.

But we have to deal with any circumstance. If the competition rules say that this pitch is ok to play, then we have to play on it and and we have to deal with it. It’s still about what we bring to the game and how well we prepare what our sensation is when we go into the game and what intensity and quality we can bring on the pitch. So I don’t want to go to that point, but like I said before, I think every team likes playing with a nice pitch.

I can have a visual in my head how the game will go but football is unpredictable and that’s the magic about it and that’s what people come to see. We don’t know what’s going to happen. So yes, in an ideal world I want to have a picture in my head, what happens across those 90 or 120 minutes. But we also have to plan for all possible scenarios and the one thing I know that we are going to be and the place we are going to be is that we’re going be calm and composed and we have belief that we can do it.

LAST TIME OUT
Real won the first leg 2-0 at Estadio Alfredo di Stefano thanks to goals in each half from Linda Caicedo and Athenea del Castillo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOkm_MPi27k

THE OPPOSITION
Real Madrid earned arguably the greatest result in their five-year history on Sunday when a slightly rotated side beat a slightly rotated Barcelona side at the Johan Cruyff Stadium. It is the first ever time they have beaten Barca and, in truth, they rarely lay a glove on their all-conquering opponents.

Madrid rested Linda Caicedo, Caroline Weir, Signe Bruun and Olga Carmona for the game, though Weir came on to score a couple of late goals. They had only 32% of the ball but still managed 15 shots and three goals, if the Liverpool game was a good dress rehearsal for Arsenal, this game was an excellent one for Madrid too.

Madrid had 431 touches in the game and 78 of them were long passes. That is how they are likely to set up at the Emirates, sitting deep and looking to contain Arsenal as they did in the first leg, before firing the ball to Bruun or Caicedo and looking to play on the transition. It feels as though the first goal in this game will come to define it.

PLAYER TO WATCH

Mariona Caldentey played in a deeper role against Liverpool on Saturday and I think that was with a view to playing her there again against Madrid. The Spaniards did a very good job of 'blocking out the light' in the middle of the pitch in the first leg, with Toletti, Angeldahl and Leupolz often outnumbering Arsenal in that area.

Caroline Weir would often drop back and join them out of possession. The pitch helped, of course, but Arsenal struggled to make gains in that area. I fully expect Mariona to move into midfield again to try to oil the engine a little. Madrid have played with, essentially, four midfielders a lot in the UWCL this season.

Mariona's ability to get on the ball, dictate and move that Madrid midfield block around is crucial and I absolutely think playing her there against Liverpool was foreshadowing to this game. Arsenal need greater movement and greater creativity and Mariona is their best player for both of these tasks.

PREDICTED LINE UPS

Subs: 1.Zinsberger 5.L.Codina 9.Mead 13.Walti 16.Kafaji 17.Hurtig 21.Pelova 22.Nighswonger 25.Blackstenius 28.Ilestedt 32.Cooney-Cross 62.Reid

HOW TO CATCH THE GAME
The match kicks off at 8pm on Wednesday evening at Arsenal Stadium and tickets are available here. The game will be shown live on TNT Sports and the DAZN YouTube channel in the UK.

COMING UP
We will have the usual on the whistle match report from Aidan Gibson on the site at full-time, as well as every word from Renee Slegers' post-match press conference on the site around an hour after full-time. We will also have a matchday vlog on the Arseblog YouTube channel on Thursday as well.

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