What a month, right? From winning the Conti Cup against Chelsea to qualifying for the Champions League semifinals for the first time in ten years! We March on, don’t we?
No, I won’t apologize for the silly pun. Last night’s win against Bayern Munich was intoxicating and you will have to pay the price for it, sorry.
Last night, at the Emirates Stadium, we dominated an opponent that was on an unbelievable 14-games winning streak, limiting them to a meagre four attempts and one shot on goal over the whole game, while we scored two, hit the bar, forced Grohs into two big saves and missed a golden chance with Leah Williamson, all in the first half alone.
The opening 45’ were played at such high-tempo and high-intensity that Bayern simply couldn’t cope with our aggression and quick exchanges, chasing shadows for most of the half. Despite losing Kim Little very early through injury, the team didn’t lose their cohesion and one wonders if the introduction of Lotte Wubben-Moy, with Leah Williamson moving into midfield, wasn’t a (very unwelcome) blessing in disguise: the England captain played superbly alongside Lia Wälti, recording the most ball carries and the most progressive passes received, on top of setting up Frida Maanum for the opener.
She could or should have scored one herself, too, but her close-range header flew high over the bar, unfortunately.

The players celebrate Frida Maanum’s goal (photo by Arsenal FC)
Given how much energy we put in the first half, I did expect a slower, more controlled second half from our girls, with Bayern Munich pushing on, but in reality, we had all the chances to put the tie to bed while our opponents never truly tested Manuela Zinsberger, their highest xG value recorded over the night being 0.10
Caitlin Foord should have buried the chance that Frida Maanum brilliantly manufactured for her with twenty minutes to play, while a few minutes earlier Katie McCabe dribbled her way into Bayern Munich’s penalty area, only to miss the target with her right foot.
As much as the seven minutes of added time felt interminable, we made it a bit too difficult for ourselves by not converting the chances we had, which allowed Bayern to stay in the tie regardless of their actual merits, but we never looked like we were going to concede.
Speaking to the press after the game, Jonas Eidevall was really happy about the discipline, belief and focus shown by his players and said something very important about the team’s confidence levels since the Conti Cup triumph over Chelsea:
“Process is important, process with results creates belief. It means that the things you are doing, you are more inclined to do it again when you see you win football matches from it. It helps create that story and the narrative. That is important, you can sustain a good process for medium term without results but in the end, you need results to back it up. That is what this month has given us, it has shown us we can create something. Hopefully that creates a lot of belief.”
So, THAT win against Chelsea was a turning point and it might be even bigger than it felt.
It is hard to pick one standout player from last night because there were many great performances: Frida Maanum was unplayable for most of the game and scored what probably is the goal of the season; Stina Blackstenius worked tirelessly in both penalty areas, clearing a lot of dangerous balls from Bayern Munich corners; Caitlin Foord created a lot of problems for the visitors down her flank and combined very, very well with Katie McCabe, who herself was relentless both offensively and defensively. Then you have the intelligent, selfless Victoria Pelova, who played the balancing tool in our attacking setup, Lia Wälti who made sure that Bayern didn’t have much space in central areas and Noëlle Maritz, whose interactions with Victoria Pelova ensured we always had the good distances both vertically and horizontally.
Last night will go down as one of the finest at the Emirates Stadium and not only for the Arsenal Women team but for the whole club: with so much at stakes and so little room for mistakes, Jonas Eidevall team delivered a flawless performance throughout the game and went on to qualify for the semifinals of the biggest European competition, ten years after Laura Harvey’s team faced eventual winners Wolfsburg and fourteen years after the men’s team, led by Arsène Wenger, lost 4-1 on to Manchester United, on aggregate.
This is how big the win against Bayern Munich was.

Leah Williamson is all smiles at the final whistle (Photo by The Times)
We will face Wolfsburg or PSG in the semifinals as the teams play each other on Thursday night, with the Germans slightly favorites after the narrow win in Paris, last week.
Before that, though, we have a league title to win!
On Sunday, at lunch time, we will host Manchester City at Meadow Park in the first of two games that will likely decide who is going to fight until the very last day and who is going to be left behind: a home win against the Citizens will see us leapfrogging them and climb to the second place, before travelling to Leigh Sports Village to face league leaders Manchester United, after a league break to make space in the calendar for the FA Cup semifinals.
It’s make or break time for Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea, as the league enters its final stages: six games for both Manchester clubs and seven games each for Arsenal and Chelsea to amass as many points as possible and hope for the odd slip from the opponents.
We will talk again on Monday to see if we managed to keep Bunny Shaw quiet and keep climbing the table, while keeping an eye on our European challenger.
Until then, keep re-watching the game as such memorable nights don’t come around so often!

Italian living in Switzerland, Gooner since mid-nineties, when the Gunners defeated my hometown team, in Copenhagen. I started my own blog and podcast (www.clockenditalia.com) after after some experiences with Italian websites and football magazines. Covering Arsenal Women with the occasional rant about the boys.
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