Sunday 23rd April 2023

Kick off 2:30pm 

UEFA Women’s Champions League

Volkswagen Arena

Arsenal Women conquered the best of Bavaria in the Champions League semi finals with their comeback win over Bayern Munich, but the Gunners now make the trip to Lower Saxony to take on Wolfsburg, a side that have ruled German football for the last decade and picked up two Champions League titles while doing so.

The 2-1 aggregate win over Bayern took Arsenal into their first Champions League semi finals since the 2012/13 season. Their opponents? Wolfsburg, who ran out 4-1 winners on aggregate before beating Lyon in the final at Stamford Bridge. 

Last season the two sides met again, with Lotte Wubben-Moy’s late equaliser at the Emirates in the first leg following Tabea Wassmuth’s first half header. In the second leg Jill Roord haunted her former side by giving Wolfsburg the lead in the first half before an own goal from Leah Williamson as Wolfsburg progressed to the semi-finals where they lost to Barcelona despite a 2-0 win in the second leg.

In recent days Arsenal have been rocked by yet another ACL injury, this time to their vice-captain Leah Williamson, who was captaining the side in place of the already injured Kim Little. Williamson will miss many months of football, including this summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, after going off injured in the 1-0 defeat to Manchester United on Wednesday.

Arsenal will at least be boosted by the return of Katie McCabe after her suspension in midweek, whilst news on Caitlin Foord’s return should be a topic at this evening’s press conference at the Volkswagen Arena. Gio Queiroz and Jodie Taylor are not part of Arsenal’s Champions League squad.

Wolfsburg have had their fair share of injuries in recent weeks but there can be no questions over the squad depth that manager Tommy Stroot has at his disposal. Alex Popp missed last weekend’s DFB Pokal semi final win (Wolfsburg can win their ninth DFB Pokal in a row this season) and the 3-0 victory over Duisburg in midweek with a calf injury, but Popp is recovering well and could be involved tomorrow. Marina Hegering is also returning from injury, whilst goalkeeper Merle Frohms was rested from the squad on Wednesday night.

The ‘She-Wolves’ are two points clear of Bayern Munich at the top of the Bundesliga, but Bayern have a game in hand. Wolfsburg thrashed Bayern 5-0 in last weekend’s semi final, which was watched in the stands by Jonas Eidevall. Arsenal are now six points behind WSL league leaders Manchester United and have work to do simply to play in the Champions League again next season. The fight they have shown in recent months to cope with such a difficult run of games was heightened after the loss of Williamson. Arsenal know they are the underdogs in this tie, but if the Gunners can give themselves something to take back to the Emirates, where they will play in front of at least 45,000 fans in the second leg, then they will have a chance of making their first European final since 2007.

Over 400 Arsenal fans will be in the away end after using various combinations of planes, trains and automobiles to reach Wolfsburg, a city best known for its Volkswagen factory.

The game will be available to watch for free in the UK and across most European countries on the DAZN UEFA Women’s Champions League YouTube channel. The Gooner Fanzine will be at this evening’s press conference, which will involve head coach Jonas Eidevall and a member of the Arsenal playing squad.