Ahead of Sunday’s UEFA Women’s Champions League semi final first leg, Arsenal defender Jen Beattie spoke to the media at the Volkswagen Arena. Here’s what the experienced Scot had to say to The Gooner Fanzine.

The Gooner: “It seemed like there was a bit of a lull in the game when Leah went off on Wednesday- obviously we’ve seen a few of these injuries so far this season. How difficult is it when you see your teammate go off in pain like that, especially knowing what the severity of the injury could be. How tough is it when you go back in the dressing room and then have to play on?”

Jen Beattie: “It’s horrible. In training there’s always an opportunity to stop and check in but in a match situation it’s totally different, you have to move on and still fight for a result. I think for me I was still warming up so I was well aware of what was going on- I was trying to nip back into the dressing room to see if [Leah] was ok. Just from a human perspective it’s never nice to see anyone in pain or see a stretcher come onto the pitch, so it’s just an automatic ‘Are you ok?’- that human instinct that kicks in for anyone I think, you just want your mate to be ok and I think that’s credit to the team, we all rallied around her straight away”.

The Gooner: “There will be a strong contingent of Arsenal fans here again tomorrow. It’s been a tough week, not only with Leah’s injury but with that defeat and how it leaves the title race- what would your message be to the fans ahead of tomorrow’s game?”

Jen Beattie: “That was a big one! I guess thank you for everything so far, I think they’ve definitely been incredible so far for us, given us all the support not just this season but many seasons leading up to now. I think the Emirates attendances have shown that massively- this home game we’ve sold over 45,000 tickets so far already which is not just credit to the club but a huge credit to the fans coming in and supporting us. Away fans are even more excited when they come and travel so it’s credit to them. I appreciate everything that they’ve done for us and I can’t wait to hear them cheer us on tomorrow night”.