The Arsenal Women Journal – Remontada! [ARS 3-0 RMA]

03/27/2025 06:54 AM

Hello, Arsenal Women aficionados!

Not sure about you, but I haven't quite recovered from last night: the control, assertiveness, purpose and intensity of the team's performance in such a big occasion has left me in awe of the players, the coach and the staff.

Overcoming a two goals deficit against a team that is very, very good in transition was a big ask, but the Gunners delivered and did it with a degree of panache: the scoreline might have been 0-0 at half-time, but Real Madrid were struggling to get out of their own third, let alone their own half. Then, the floodgate opened: Alessia Russo (twice) and Mariona Caldentey scored in the first fifteen minutes of the second half, while later we had several chances to put the game and the qualification to bed. In truth, we should have sent Madrid back home with five goals against them, but a mix of inaccuracy and the most marginal offsides ever called kept the scoreline rather flattering for the Spanish side.

On nights like this one it is always hard, and probably unfair, to highlight individual performances, but I feel that this game was Alessia Russo's biggest moment in an Arsenal shirt and her "I'm here" moment on the European stage. She scored two big goals, had another two called off for offside, linked up with her teammates wonderfully and tormented Real Madrid defensive line all night, leaving them wondering what she would do next, where she would move next. A complete performance from the former Manchester United forward, worth becoming a milestone (and hopefully a starting point) in her career with Arsenal.

Chloe Kelly, who provided two assists, and Daphne van Domselaar, who made two vital saves to keep a clean sheet, also deserve a mention for their individual brilliance, but the team was simply perfect, in every aspect.

They could have been too aggressive or become impatient as the minutes went by and the opener didn't come, but the players kept their cool, remained focused and kept pushing in a very orderly, organized way until Real Madrid eventually crumbled.

The reward for such a spectacular win is a semifinal tie againt Olympique Lyonnais, led by former Arsenal Women coach Joe Montemurro. Together with Barcelona, Lyon are the European powerhouse and record holder for most trophies won in the history of the competition. They will be the favourite to progress to the final, but this team proved they can compete at the highest level, so I hope it will be a very intense, hard-fought tie to book a ticket for Lisbon.

RENÉE'S WORDS

Renée Slegers was obviously jubilant when speaking to the press, after the game, and praised her players and staff for the memorable night at the Emirates Stadium:

"It's just a credit to everyone, I think, staff and players. We've worked incredibly hard to prepare for this game. But then when the moment is there, because you can prepare everything and in theory, you have all your plans, and you know what you're going to do, but then to do it and execute it in this moment where you are under so much pressure, it's so strong of the girls. So, it's something that we take with us so that's very positive feedback that in these times and in these moments, we can perform".

This might be me reading too much in the coach words, but her choice to put the emphasis on the fact that "in these times and in these moments, we can perform" seems to point at the upcoming semifinals against Lyon, when the players will be under intense pressure.

Later on, the coach focused on the game itself. When asked about half-time and the overall mood in the dressing room, Renée Slegers praised the players and staff for remaining calm and focused:

"[The atmosphere was] calm and we've spoken about it before, but with the staff and players that we need to be calm whatever the scenario. If we don't stay calm, we're not going to find the solution, so everyone is calm, but also it was 0-0, but we felt like we were dominant, and it was just about the details of finding the right thing. So, I could see in the players' eyes that they were believing and calm and they were very determined in a very good way. So, the atmosphere was calm. We were talking about details, so it was a very good atmosphere. You must train your mind to stay calm because you could go in the direction of, okay, we lost two nil away and it's only 0-0 and there's only 45 minutes left to play, but I think that's what the girls do so well at the moment. The team does so well now that we stay very calm, and we focus on the task in the present, what can we do? Emotions aren't going to help us. We are on a very high level with the team".

Finally, I would like to report some words from Leah Williamson, after the game. When questioned about the semifinals against Lyon, she pointed at one particular aspect of the tie:

"So, it’ll be a tough game, we know that. But I think when we’re playing like we are tonight, then getting into the next round, that’s the job done. And now it’s about being ready. Because we don’t want to put ourselves in the same position. Great that we came back, but we shouldn’t have put ourselves in that position in the first place."

I like this mentality a lot, because although we are all happy to celebrate a fantastic comeback after a heavy away loss, it is true that we made it extremely hard for ourselves by throwing away the first leg. All things considered (the pitch, the weather…), we should have come out of the Estadio Alfredo Di Stéfano with a positive result, or at least a marginal loss, but we allowed Real Madrid to score a second by leaving them too much space at a critical time of the match.

It would be unforgivable to repeat the same mistake against Lyon.

LESSONS LEARNED

There are many aspects of this game that deserve a mention, so this might be a very long read – bear with me!

Let's begin with the starting XI fielded by Renée Slegers: although I was expecting Mariona Caldentey to start in a deeper position in midfield to help advancing the ball between the lines, I thought we would see a true pivot ahead of the Spain international and Kim Little, but the coach chose Frida Maanum, instead of either one of Lia Wälti or Kyra Cooney-Cross.

It was a bold choice, from a defensive standpoint, but it paid off brilliantly as our captain provided the perfect platform for Frida Maanum and Mariona Caldentey to press aggressively and make late runs into the box. A big call from Renée Slegers that could have backfired but finally made a big difference in how we pushed Real Madrid deep into their own half.

On both our first two goals, we can see Mariona Caldentey and Frida Maanum crashing the box when Chloe Kelly is about to cross, while Kim Little stays behind in case the ball is turned over and Real Madrid has an opportunity to counter. Luckily, both pinpoint deliveries from the former Manchester City winger are converted, and Real Madrid's started to fall apart.

Second Goal

I was surprised to see how much Real Madrid struggled to deal with our wide forwards, because our attacking setup was quite predictable: on the left-hand side, Caitlin Foord would come infield to combine with Mariona Caldentey, Alessia Russo and Katie McCabe, while on the opposite side Chloe Kelly would remain wide, with Emily Fox underlapping or Frida Maanum making third-man runs into the channel. It's standard Arsenal playbook, but somehow the opponents seemed unaware.

Finally, I would like to highlight our increasing threat from set-pieces, something that we are slowly building as a reliable attacking weapon. Despite not having the most imposing players, compared to other teams, we have quietly become dangerous from corners and indirect free kick, as demonstrated against Liverpool first and last night against Real Madrid.

On top of the third goal, scored by Alessia Russo after a venomous delivery by Katie McCabe, we created several good chances from dead-ball situations: Mariona Caldentey almost opened the score with a header from a corner kick by Frida Maanum; Kim Little had a free headers minutes after our third goal; Alessia Russo and Steph Catley crashed into each other when attacking an in-swinging corner from Katie McCabe and then the England forward went agonizingly closed to a well-deserved hat-trick with a header, following a corner kick by Beth Mead.

Although the deliveries and routines were quite different to those mentioned by Tim Stillman on Arseblog, we managed to put Real Madrid under pressure from set-pieces too, which added another problem to solve for our opponents. It might not be our best attacking weapon (yet), but developing set-pieces routines could prove invaluable to rack more points in the league and give ourselves a bigger chance at progressing past Olympique Lyonnais in Europe.

With games likely to be decided by episodes and fine margins, every little detail counts, including how to defend and attack set-pieces.

NEXT'S UP

There's no rest for Arsenal players, as they will play Crystal Palace on Sunday at the Borough Sports Ground. The game is scheduled to start at 2pm, meaning that the coach and the staff won't have much time to prepare for the away game.

The biggest challenge will be to find energy and focus after such a brilliant, yet demanding game, but hopefully the players will respond positively and get another win.

Crystal Palace are currently bottom of the table, one point off Aston Villa in 11^th and six points behind Leicester City. On paper, this is a game that we should win comfortably, but the combination of being mentally and physically exhausted after the home game against Real Madrid and facing an allegedly inferior opponent could play some tricky on the players' minds.

After that, the Arsenal Women team will have almost three WEEKS to prepare for the UWCL semifinal against Lyon, at the Emirates Stadium and make it another memorable night. You can already purchase your tickets here, with some nice early bird special prices.

We'll talk again on Monday, after the WSL game against Crystal Palace.

Speak to you soon!

The post The Arsenal Women Journal – Remontada! [ARS 3-0 RMA] first appeared on Gunners Town.