Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall says that his side are ready for their latest UEFA Women’s Champions League adventure.
Like last season, The Gunners enter the competition at the Round 1 stage. They must win semi-final and final ties on home soil at the Mangata Pay UK Stadium Meadow Park this week to progress to the next round.
Arsenal face Rangers in their Round 1 semi-final tie in Boreham Wood tomorrow night. The Gunners failed to progress from Round 1 last season but head coach Eidevall says that his side are well-prepared for their latest challenge.
“There are few teams that get the opportunity to play in the Champions League, so of course it is an opportunity,” Eidevall said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “We know the qualification stage is not easy. It will be a real challenge but we’re ready for it.”
Opponents Rangers have been in fine form domestically, netting 43 goals without reply in their first five SWPL 1 matches and Eidevall said that Arsenal can’t underestimate the Glasgow giants.
He said “It’s knockout football, we need to bring our very best from the first second of the game to the very last. We know how tricky this stage is. We are expecting a very good opponent and we will do our very best to try to progress.”
Arsenal remain the only English club to have ever won the UEFA Women’s Champions League having lifted the old UEFA Women’s Cup in 2007. While The Gunners came unstuck in the very first round last season, Eidevall says that the situation going into this year’s competition is quite different, particularly around player availability.
He said “There are always lessons to be learned but that has been more about preparation; last season was really tough on us with a really quick turnaround and lots of players returning from long-term injuries that we couldn’t integrate in the team at that point. The more prepared we can make the team during this pre-season, the more situations we have been able to experience together; I am very happy that we have done the most we can do.”
Arsenal’s UEFA Women’s Champions League Round 1 semi-final tie against Rangers kicks-off at 7.30pm tomorrow night. The winners of the tie will face either Atlético Madrid or Rosenborg BK in the final on Saturday.
