Leah Williamson believes Arsenal can progress in the Women's Champions League despite losing the first leg of their quarter-final against Real Madrid.
WHAT HAPPENED?
The north London side suffered a 2-0 loss on an awful pitch in the Spanish capital last week, leaving them on the verge of crashing out heading into Wednesday's return fixture.
THE BIGGER PICTURE
The Gunners were fancied to get the better of Madrid over the two legs, but Williamson admits that they left last week's game feeling they had missed an opportunity. Having seen her team trounce Liverpool 4-0 in the Women's Super League days afterwards, though, the defender still believes her side have the quality to turn the tie around at the Emirates Stadium.
WHAT WILLIAMSON SAID
"I think there was a general feeling that we wasted this potential opportunity. Two teams playing on the same pitch, the pitch wasn’t the standard that it needed to be, but we both played on it," she told reporters. "I think that anger is more frustration with ourselves, because we know what we can do. We know we have more, and that’s frightening for other teams because I think in that game, we were still competitive. We just need to score goals, and that’s what it comes down to, and we need to stop them. We were frustrated, but more so with ourselves than anything else. If we played a perfect game last weekend, and we got beat by a perfect game from the other team, that can sometimes be football. But that wasn’t the case, so it’s about us taking individual responsibility first and foremost, and making sure that everybody stays present in that."
Looking ahead to this week's clash, she said: "I’ll play my role, I’ll play my part. I think the experience of overturning the last quarter-final against Bayern, I think that comes in handy for anybody that played in that game. That was a great memory. Good things happen in football, bad things happen in football. When the good things happen, you keep them in your pocketed just as much as the bad, you call on them when you need them. So, I think anybody that was involved in that game will take confidence from that, knowing that we know how to do it in almost an identical situation."
WHAT NEXT FOR ARSENAL?
Renee Slegers' team will have to put in a stellar performance to overpower their Champions League foes. After that game, they take on Crustal Palace in the Women's Super League on Sunday.