Renee Slegers has said Arsenal’s qualification to the knock-out stages of the UEFA Women’s Champions League feels “surreal” after a turbulent few months.
The Gunners’ eventual 1-0 win over Juventus on Thursday night at Emirates Stadium, coupled with an earlier 1-1 draw between Bayern Munich and Valerenga saw them seal a spot in the quarter-finals of the European tournament, with two games to spare.
The result also marked interim head coach Slegers’ sixth win from seven games since taking over the reigns at Arsenal from the now departed Jonas Eidevall.
“It’s all very surreal,” she told 90min. “I never thought we’d get to this and we’ve done really well. I was part of Jonas’ staff and there’s so many things from his time that we are still using, that’s the foundation of everything we do. “I don’t want to separate that, but it’s surreal in many ways and I’m very happy with how it’s gone.”
“It’s the ultimate end to a very busy and intense block,” Slegers added. “It’s the perfect ending and it means a lot. All of the players deserve it because of all the work they’ve put in. We obviously now have some breathing space for the last two games.”
Leaving it late in north London 🤩 pic.twitter.com/rw4aTM5tra
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) November 21, 2024
Despite what the score lines might suggest from their previous group stage matches, it’s not always been easy for Arsenal in the tournament. They suffered a difficult 5-2 loss in their opening game in Germany, immediately putting them on the back foot.
However, two home wins against Valerenga and Juventus, alongside a 4-0 away thrashing against the same Italian side ended up being enough to get the job done. They will now travel to Norway for their away leg with Valerenga on 12 December, before returning to Meadow Park to seek revenge on Bayern Munich.
Although substitute Lina Hurtig’s late goal helping Arsenal secure the win, they struggled for the duration of the match to find a way past Juventus’ low block.
We are The Arsenal ✊ pic.twitter.com/zHJEeqD00i
— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) November 21, 2024
“That was one of the scenarios that we’d planned for, but I wasn’t expecting it because it’s very far away from what they usually do in the league,” said Slegers. “We had to adjust to that. I think they [Juventus] did well. They closed down a lot of spaces in the first half and we had a hard time finding space and the right movements.
“But in the second half we had a clearer idea. Both the staff and players spoke on how we get to those spaces and we exploited that in the second half.”
Slegers’ position in charge at Arsenal continues to remain unclear after Thursday’s victory marked her last confirmed fixture in charge as interim head coach. Despite helping the Gunners return to their winning ways, she’s always remained focused on the job at hand, claiming she doesn’t “think about it” when asked whether she’d be interested in the role full-time.
The north-London club are understood to be continuing their recruitment search, after reports their ‘primary target’ Nick Cushing ruled himself out.
