Lyon

Arsenal 1 Lyon 2

In isolation, ’s defeat in opposition to Lyon wouldn’t be considered as disastrous. However this four-game winless streak might quantity to a mini-crisis.

Starting the defence of their trophy at residence to the eight-time winners was by no means going to be straightforward and this was undoubtedly the hardest fixture Arsenal will face within the league part.

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However head coach Renee Slegers may have wished to at the least get some extent given their current Ladies’s Tremendous League kind. They final weekend, a end result which adopted attracts in opposition to Aston Villa and Manchester United.

What may have pissed off Slegers extra is that her group had been the constructs of their very own downfall.

Lyon’s two targets got here from Arsenal twice giving the ball away in entrance of their very own aim. Melchie Dumornay twice benefitted, scoring successive strikes within the area of 5 minutes after Alessia Russo had given the hosts an early lead.

“Apprehensive will not be the appropriate phrase however in fact we’re not proud of it,” Slegers mentioned when requested about her aspect’s kind. “It does one thing to our group. The essential factor is that we handle that actually properly and we give course shifting ahead and stand robust. The constructive factor is that we now have a robust basis, each from a tradition perspective and a soccer perspective.

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“They [the players] have gone via onerous instances earlier than and so they’ve all the time come again. We’ve seen it over time, when issues get onerous they discover methods to come back again and I’m very assured they’ll try this.

“I’ve been via this as a supervisor, as a participant, you construct up expertise. We knew that the group went via onerous instances final yr as properly after which we ended the season on a excessive. What’s going to take us ahead within the course of is all the time staying grounded. That’s what we’ve constructed within the membership, that brings me confidence that we received’t get too excessive or too low and on this state of affairs not too low. We preserve going and we preserve believing.”

Arsenal will nonetheless have each confidence of progressing to the knockouts however should navigate difficult fixtures in opposition to Bayern Munich and Actual Madrid.

Solely 4 groups will progress from the league part, which has been introduced on this season to exchange the normal group stage, mirroring the lads’s competitors.

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The following eight groups should accept a one-legged play-off in an effort to qualify for the quarter-finals.

It could be some consolation for Slegers that they had been crushed 5-2 by Bayern Munich of their opening Champions League sport final season earlier than they went on to win the competitors. It was that defeat, adopted by a 3-2 loss in opposition to Chelsea which noticed her predecessor Jonas Eidevall resign from his place as head coach.

Slegers will hope her aspect can reply after they face Brighton within the WSL on Sunday.

Arsenal couldn’t have gotten off to a greater begin to this sport when Russo latched on to Beth Mead’s through-ball to place them forward after seven minutes. However they threw away that lead by twice taking part in themselves into hassle.

Alessia Russo gave Arsenal the lead earlier than they had been punished for poor errors – Getty Photos/Alex Burstow

Goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar was culpable for each targets, first passing straight to Dumornay, who fired her first try on the goalkeeper’s legs earlier than ending the rebound.

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Van Domselaar then rolled the ball out to Mariona Caldentey, who was pressed into shedding possession by Lindsey Heaps. Caldentey ought to undoubtedly have checked her shoulder earlier than receiving the ball however she was needlessly put underneath stress by her goalkeeper. The ball dropped to Dumornay who fired an emphatic strike into the highest left nook.