Renée Slegers was delighted with how our players figured out a way to create chances against a strong Lyon side on Sunday.
The French champions made it difficult in the first half of the UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final first leg at Arsenal Stadium.
But whatever was said at half-time worked, as we found the back of the net twice by way of defensive errors from the visitors.
“If you look at Lyon and the qualities they possess, some would say it’s really important to do that and the team did that well,” our head coach explained. “I think with the different tools that we have and the different pitches we can create as a team, it’s in a really good place and the players are so intelligent, solving things, both on the pitch and at half-time, so that was a massive factor in getting more pressure on the ball.”
Stina Blackstenius made a clever run for our first goal. Her movement during a Mariona Caldentey free-kick just did enough to put the goalkeeper off and spill it into the bottom right corner.
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Report: Arsenal Women 2-1 Lyon
“It’s a hard ball because it comes in and there’s runners so it’s hard for the goalkeeper to see it when there’s runners in front and yes, it was really clever and happy of course that it went in,” Renée added.
“It was two very good teams going against each other, I think you saw on the pitch. For us it was key to get pressure on the ball and spend time in their half as much as possible which I think we did better and better when the game went on and the players were brilliant, very calm.
“I think they have high belief in the tools they have and the options we have on the pitch with so many different qualities. Just happy with how we grew into the game, with how we minimised Lyon’s threat because they’re a fantastic team but I’m also very aware that it’s only half-time and we have to go to Lyon and they have a lot of strengths. For a half-time score, this is good.
“We wanted to use the power of the Emirates and I think we did, the crowd was fantastic and the second half, when we found those moments to press and be in their half, you could feel the fans going with us and it created that momentum for us, so that was fantastic, it’s always great to play at the Emirates so we wanted to take advantage at home, we did and now we have to go away next weekend.
“More pressure on the ball allowed us to be more in their half and the dynamics that we have and the different tools; diversity of tools that we have in the team at the moment with how we want to do things on the pitch, the different qualities that we have on the pitch, I think it was really important for the players to just stay calm, find the solutions and keep on believing. So this is the half-time score and next weekend we go again.”
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