She Shoots, She Scores

It’s by no mistake that Arsenal are the reigning European Champions, and they were ready to remind Chelsea who they are in their quarter final first leg meet up at their fortress of the Emirates. With both teams plagued by injuries and missing players due to the recent Women’s Asian Cup, an intriguing game was ahead as fans were keen to see how the sides adapted for their first ever meeting in a European knockout stage.

Despite a dominant start for Chelsea, seeing two near misses as shots from Alyssa Thompson and Lauren James hit the post minutes apart, Arsenal were the ones to capitalise on the momentum. Stina Blackstinus broke the stalemate in the 22nd minute when she converted a brilliant free kick from Katie McCabe. Their lead was then doubled 10 minutes later by a brilliant strike from Chloe Kelly, picking up right where she left off from after scoring a hat-trick against West Ham on Saturday. Chelseas misfortune continued as a goal from Veerle Buurman was quickly disallowed for a foul conceded on Laia Codina in the 42nd minute, leaving the score 2-0 in the gunners favour at halftime.

Lauren James gave hope back to Chelsea with a spectacular goal in the 66th minute, striking the ball into the top-left corner from outside the penalty box. However Alessia Russo’s 76th minute goal regained the gunners 2 goal lead, marking her 8th goal of the competition and setting a new record for most goals for an English player in a single campaign for the competition. Yet another disallowed goal for Chelsea regarding a foul on keeper Anneke Borbe meant that the score remained in Arsenal’s favour at full time, ending the first leg at 3-1.

While Chelsea were unfortunate with some of tonights calls, with many saying that their first disallowed goal was a soft call from both the referee and VAR – a topic often brought up in the women’s game – their team struggled to produce past Arsenal’s ruthlessness, leaving them a mess a times; something we’ve come to see time and time again this season. However Arsenal will know that their job is not done yet, with manager Renee Slegers stating after the match “It’s only half time.” The gunners will know better than anyone that a two goal lead can easily be overturn, having converted the same score to a 3-2 win at home last season against Real Madrid at the same stage of the competition. With home advantage for the second leg, the blues will be set to fight in what will be their most important match of the season so far, but after an action packed battle of a first leg, the reigning champions will be sure to protect what’s theirs and for a place in the final four.