Arsenal top WCL group after Caldentey’s late penalty settles thriller with Bayern | OneFootball

Eleven games, 10 wins, one draw and top spot in their Champions League group – secured after a late Mariona Caldentey penalty powered Arsenal past Bayern Munich to end their 2024 – has left Renée Slegers’ CV looking incredibly strong.

Slegers’ future is unknown, with the club yet to say whether she will stay on as interim manager, after Jonas Eidevall stepped down in October, be handed the job on a permanent basis or step aside to make way for someone new. However, a gutsy comeback against Bayern after the former Chelsea defender Magda Eriksson had put the visiting team 2-1 up had the fans in full voice. They want her to stay, the final line in the chorus of Last Christmas changed to “I’ll give it to Renée Slegers” ringing around the stadium.

“It’s been very intense,” said Slegers, reflecting on her record going into the winter break. “I’ve learned a lot about what a role like this is at a big club like Arsenal. I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve enjoyed working with the players and the rest of the staff; I want to highlight the rest of the staff as well because there’s so much work that goes on behind the scenes.”

On whether she’d like to see Slegers stay in charge, Leah Williamson said: “Right now we’re having a great time and I have zero complaints coming into work every day, but I’m so happy that’s not my decision to make.”

With the former Chelsea forward Pernille Harder having been the scourge of the Gunners in Munich, scoring a 13-minute hat-trick in a 5-2 win, this time it was her partner and teammate Eriksson who would trouble Arsenal. First, the centre-back cancelled out a Bayern own goal, then she gave the visiting side the lead before Alessia Russo provided an equaliser, her 10th goal in 11 games, and Caldentey fired in from the spot – all four goals plus the handball for the penalty coming from corners.

At Borehamwood, Uefa having granted special dispensation for the Gunners to move the game from the Emirates to make way for the men’s League Cup quarter-final against Crystal Palace, there was a chance for Arsenal to show how far they have come since that humiliation in Munich. That loss was sandwiched between a 0-0 draw with Everton and a crushing 2-1 loss to Chelsea in the Women’s Super League, with Eidevall’s resignation coming days later. Since then, under Slegers, Arsenal are unbeaten and look to have their mojo back, conceding just six goals while scoring 31.

The only blip on Slegers’ CV is a 1-1 draw with Manchester United and Bayern would offer her sternest test, with top spot in Group C up for grabs.

There will be frustration at the goals conceded, with Slegers having specifically highlighted conceding from set pieces as “something we want to do better” against Bayern, but it mattered little. Another corner was met by Caldentey on the edge of the box and her shot was quickly adjudged to have come off the hand of Tuva Hansen. The Spanish forward stepped up and converted from the spot in front of a jubilant North Bank.

Vengeance completed for the team and the manager’s CV updated with another win.

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