Jonas Eidevall had said he wanted to see a “complete performance” from his depleted Arsenal in their Champions League semi‑final first leg at Wolfsburg. A litany of errors that allowed Ewa Pajor to slot in the German side’s first goal and horrifically gifted Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttír a second inside 24 minutes was perhaps as far from a complete performance as you could get.
Instead, Eidevall had to settle for a battling and smart comeback, and goals from Rafaelle Souza on the stroke of half-time and Stina Blackstenius in the second half mean his side welcome Wolfsburg to the Emirates Stadium on Monday 1 May well and truly in the tie with the score level at 2-2.
After Arsenal progressed past Bayern Munich in sumptuous fashion, there was optimism heading into the final stages of the season. The announcement that Leah Williamson had ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament in Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat at Manchester United in midweek changed that.
It is not that Williamson is irreplaceable, but more that her injury has been perceived as one too many for the team. It is Arsenal’s third ACL injury of the season, with Vivianne Miedema, the Women’s Super League record scorer, and Beth Mead, the Euro 2022 golden boot winner, ruled out towards the end of last year. Their captain, Kim Little, was sidelined for the rest of the season with another knee injury in the second leg against Bayern, but somehow Arsenal prevailed.
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They travelled to Germany this time without their forwards Caitlin Foord and Lina Hurtig, who are both close to returning from injury, while Gio Queiroz and Jodie Taylor are not registered to play in the Champions League. For the first time in six years and seven months, the north London side were preparing for a game without any of Little, Mead, Miedema or Williamson in contention.
In Wolfsburg, to try to compensate for the loss of key players, Eidevall set up with a back three of Lotte Wubben-Moy, Jen Beattie and Souza, with Noelle Maritz and Steph Catley playing as wing-backs.
The two-time Champions League winners Wolfsburg were without their talismanic captain, Alex Popp, but the competition’s leading goalscorer this season, Pajor, seamlessly replaced her up front.
Arsenal had weathered the loss of their players to injury until Williamson’s exit in the defeat at United, but against the Bundesliga title contenders they struggled.
The home side were dynamic and the back three lacked cohesion, with the unnatural formation sowing confusion – who should go, who should stay – whenever the ball was played into the box. In the 19th minute Wolfsburg took a deserved lead, with Jónsdóttir gliding the ball between Wubben‑Moy and Beattie for Pajor to fire past Manuela Zinsberger.
Not long afterwards, they gifted a second. Zinsberger’s goal-kick was played short to Beattie, the Scot sent it to her left to Souza but, to her surprise, the Brazilian defender passed it back to her; the miscommunication meant the ball rolled to Jónsdóttir to turn in from close range.
The manner of that concession seemed to whip the air out of Arsenal’s lungs and Wolfsburg went close to a third shortly afterwards, with Jónsdóttir heading Svenja Huth’s cross narrowly over the bar.
But this Arsenal side cannot be written off. Little said before the game that shared adversity on and off the pitch had helped to “put a little bit more fire” in the side. “As you grow as a team you build resilience and you’re able to reach those higher levels. I think we’ve reached that level more times this year than we have done in the previous years.”
Against the odds they found that level in Germany. On the stroke of half-time Arsenal scored a goal decidedly against the run of play that would light a fire under them after the lukewarm start. Catley’s corner was swung towards the back post where Souza rose highest to head powerfully in.
The second half was far more even, as much a result of Wolfsburg shrinking away from being in the driving seat in the tie as Arsenal growing in confidence.
In the 69th minute they got what had seemed a highly improbable equaliser, but which they deserved thanks to their battling performance. Wubben-Moy began the move, playing a low long ball through to Victoria Pelova on the right, and the Netherlands midfielder raced to the byline before cutting back for Blackstenius to prod over the line.
Tottenham fought back from 2-0 down at home to Aston Villa in an entertaining 3-3 draw. Goals from Kirsty Hanson and Rachel Daly put Villa two up inside 21 minutes, but Eveliina Summanen struck either side of half-time to level the game.
The relegation-threatened hosts then took the lead in the 59th minute through Beth England [pictured], but Daly struck again in the 84th minute to earn a point for fifth-placed Villa. Spurs missed out on three points but gained some breathing space over the teams beneath them.
They include Reading, who led Everton 2-0 at home but slumped to an eventual 3-2 defeat. Justine Vanhaevermaet netted from the penalty spot in only the second minute before adding a second after 17 minutes, before Hanna Bennison pulled one back before half-time.
Katja Snoeijs then equalised with another penalty, and the winner came seven minutes from time through Nicoline Sorensen. Reading stay a point above Leicester and one below Brighton, who led at Liverpool through Elisabeth Terland – only for Ceri Holland's second-half double to complete a comeback win for the hosts.
Bristol City secured the Championship title – and promotion back to the WSL – with a 4-0 win over Charlton in front of a record crowd at Ashton Gate. Brooke Aspin scored twice as the Robins stayed four points above Birmingham with only one game to go.
There was some late drama as Katie McCabe shoved over Lena Oberdorf after the German’s rough takedown of Lia Wälti and the yellow card she received angered the crowd. That spat was a microcosm of Arsenal’s second half, where tactical stoppages to disrupt the swagger of the German side were the order of the day.
It was the Arsenal fans who were jubilant at the final whistle and those in the green shirts of Wolfsburg who hunched to the ground. Arsenal are deliciously close to a first Champions League final since 2007, against all the odds, and they know it.
