Thursday is make or break for Arsenal Women’s Champions League 2024-25 hopes | OneFootball

After a frustrating 1-0 away loss to BK Hacken in the 1st leg of the Women’s Champions League qualifiers, Arsenal had a big WSL encounter against Manchester City to win, before hosting the Swedish side at Meadow Park in the hopes of turning things around.

Some doubted Arsenal’s ability to overcome City, who had just thrashed Paris FC 5-0 in their Champions League round 2 qualifier, yet the Gunners were able to compete with the Cityzens. The two fought hard on Sunday afternoon at the Emirates, but after 90 minutes of goal-filled action, they were inseparable, resulting in a 2-2 stalemate.

The loss to BK Hacken must have demoralised our Gunner women. However, not losing to Manchester City should give them confidence that they are as talented as they think, and they will comfortably defeat their Swedish Champions League opponents by two goals in the return leg on Thursday.

In form, Frida Maanum, who scored in the draw versus City, intimated that Sunday’s outcome against their WSL rivals Man City was a step in the right direction. She believes they played well, dominating the ball, and that all they need to do now is repeat and keep up that performance against BK Hacken.

“It’s a really important game for us as a club, and us as a team. Today was a step in the right direction, it was a a good game play-wise, how we played and dominated the ball. We just need to keep that going,” Maanum said on the UWCL return leg vs Hacken.

It was disappointing that Arsenal women did not qualify for the 2023-24 UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage. If they had qualified, they could have posed a threat to other European heavyweights, as they did in the previous season. Hopefully, they can turn things around this week against Rosa Kafaji and Stina Blackstenius’ former employers, and move on to play against Europe’s best. BK Hacken lead the tie by a goal, so beating them by 2 goals is what’s needed for Arsenal to progress to the 2024-25 UEFA Women’s Champions League Group stages.

Fixture details: Arsenal Women v BK Hacken – 2nd leg UWCL Round 2 qualifier

Date: Thursday, September 26th Kick-off: 7:30 pm Venue: Mangata Pay UK Stadium, Meadow Park

Do you think we can get to the Champions League proper this season Gooners?

Danni P

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