Jonas Eidevall praised the “bravery” of his Arsenal players for their recovery from two goals down against the Champions League semi‑final veterans Wolfsburg to secure a 2-2 draw in the first leg in Germany.
Goals from Rafaelle Souza and Stina Blackstenius levelled the game and set up a tantalising second leg at the Emirates Stadium on Monday 1 May, with more than 46,000 tickets sold so far.
“We have three values as a team: put the team first, always give 100% and be fearless,” Eidevall, the Arsenal manager, said. “Today, we lived all three of those values.”
In recent years Arsenal have struggled to fight back when they have fallen behind against top Women’s Super League and European sides. But in the past two months they have come from behind against Chelsea in the Continental Cup final and Manchester City in the league, and overturned a 1-0 deficit from the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final with Bayern Munich – despite a long injury list which was added to this week with the news that the England captain, Leah Williamson, has ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament.
Against Wolfsburg, Arsenal were at fault for both goals, with Ewa Pajor pouncing on a shaky start for the defence for the first and Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir capitalising on defensive confusion for the second.
“We concede that second goal, of course it is a mistake, it is a difficult situation, but you have the choice to say we give 100% even if that is a tough situation and to approach the game and believe in the way that we play still,” Eidevall said.
“A mistake cannot be defining for us, how we respond to the mistake can be defining. I am beyond proud to see that response from the players because it shows real resilience, real bravery on the ball, and I thought they represented Arsenal excellently today.”
Blackstenius, who turned in Victoria Pelova’s cross to level the game, added that players have had to take more responsibility as the injuries have mounted and that has in turn made them stronger as a group. “It has been a tough year for us with a lot of injuries,” she said. “We have really needed to be a strong group and come together even more. More players have to take more responsibility. We grow as a team and as individual players as well. I would say that we are stronger now than we were one year ago.”
