Wow, what a game that was for Arsenal. I just watched them completely control things against Bayern Munich in this huge Champions League match. It all ended 2-0 for the visitors which was a fair result, I think.
Emily Fox got them going with a early goal which really set the tone for everything. Then Mariona Caldentey, she just does something special with a amazing strike to basically decide it. The way Arsenal pressed high and finished their chances, it felt like Bayern never really had a answer for any of it.
Someone on the broadcast mentioned how complete Arsenal’s performance was, and I have to agree with them. Bayern had more of the ball, like over half of it, but they couldn’t do anything meaningful when they had it. Arsenal’s pressure was just so effective.
Now my attention turns to Manchester United’s first ever European game at Old Trafford. Me and so many others are excited to see Mary Earps come back to her old club while playing for PSG. That’s going to be a fascinating watch on BBC3 later.
Their manager, Renee Slegers, she was so pleased with how the team played on both ends of the pitch. She said the team came back from the break with so much hunger, you could feel it immediately. They just started so strong from the first whistle.
The opening goal came from a sequence where McCabe crossed it, Mead had a shot saved, but Fox was right there to head in the rebound. It felt like their aggressive style just paid off directly. Caldentey’s goal came from a Bayern mistake, a bad pass that Arsenal pounced on, and she hit it perfectly.
Even though Bayern had that big loss to Barcelona earlier, they’d been winning everything since then. But today was just Arsenal’s day from the beginning. Meanwhile, in other games, Barcelona is ahead against Leuven thanks to a Alexia Putellas penalty right before halftime. More great football to come tonight with other matches too.
It’s funny how you see a team have most the possession but still looks kind of lost, like they wasn’t sure what to do with it. Arsenal just seemed to have this plan that worked perfectly for how the game were going.
The night is still so full of other big games to get into, like Atletico Madrid taking on Juventus which should be another close one. A real showcase for the women’s game across Europe on a Wednesday, which is great for all of us watching.
Honestly, watching Stanway try to make an impact for Bayern was a lesson in how a single player can get isolated. The space around her just disappeared whenever she received the ball, which made Slegers’s pre-match comments about her intelligence feel really prescient.
From my perspective, the statistics about shots and possession tells such a clear story of one team being efficient and the other just… not. Having most of the ball doesn’t matter much when your opponent makes every second of their own count for something.
It’s also worth thinking about how a performance like this changes the atmosphere in a team’s camp. The confidence they’ll take from such a dominant win in a tough away ground, it feels like it could be a real turning point for their entire season moving forward.
