Women Down But Not Out After Real Madrid Defeat

Optimism was high for Arsenal heading to Madrid; the mood on the flight home will be glum after a 2-0 defeat.

The Gunners started well at the Alfredo Di Stefano, but much like the pitch, the performance deteriorated as the night went on.

It has to be said that the muddy, disintegrating pitch was not up to the standard of a Champions League quarter-final, but that still doesn’t excuse the lack of an Arsenal goal.

Our initial approach to the game was the classic European away performance, trying to take the sting out of Real Madrid’s precision passing game with a high press.

Even at half-time, with Real Madrid leading 1-0 through Linda Caicedo, Renée Slegers wouldn’t have been too disappointed with the performance her team had managed away from home.

But in the second half, despite dominating the game, we weren’t clinical enough. Alessia Russo ran her socks off as a number 10, a winger and through the middle but the chances just didn’t come for her or any of her teammates.

There were a couple of soft penalty shouts, but in reality, Real Madrid were good money for their 2 - 0 lead by the time Athenea del Castillo found the bottom corner with eight minutes to go.

Despite a disappointing night in Madrid, the tie is far from over. We haven’t lost a European home game in 90 minutes since December 2022 when European Champions Lyon won 1-0 in North London.

The recovery starts before that though; Liverpool visit Emirates Stadium on Saturday evening for a huge game. Not only do we need to keep winning in the league to stay ahead of Manchester United, but we need to flip the script of our season.

With the WSL title essentially a formality for Chelsea and our Gunners out of both domestic cups, the Champions League offers an opportunity for Renée Slegers to lift a trophy in her first season with the club.

This is why beating Liverpool is so crucial.

Avenging a bruising defeat against one opponent after our FA Cup defeat will give the players belief that they can do exactly the same four days later in the Champions League.