Injury-hit Arsenal fight back against Wolfsburg in WCL semi-final first leg

Jonas Eidevall had said he wanted to see a “complete performance” from his depleted Arsenal in their semi-final first leg away to Wolfsburg. A litany of errors that would allow Ewa Pajor to slot in the German side’s first and horrifically gift Sveindis Jónsdóttír a second within 24 minutes, was perhaps as far from a complete performance as you could get.

Instead, Eidevall had to settle for a battling and smart comeback, and goals from Rafaelle Souza on the stroke of half-time and Stina Blackstenius in the second half mean the Gunners welcome Wolfsburg to the Emirates in eight days well and truly in the tie with the score level at 2-2.

After Arsenal progressed past Bayern Munich in a sumptuous fashion, there was optimism heading into the final stages of the season. The announcement that Leah Williamson had ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament in Arsenal’s 1-0 loss to Manchester United in midweek, changed that.

It is not that Williamson is irreplaceable, but more that her injury has been perceived as one too many. It is Arsenal’s third ACL injury of the season, with Dutch record goalscorer Vivianne Miedema and Euro 22 golden boot-winner Beth Mead ruled out towards the end of 2022. Their captain, Kim Little, was sidelined for the rest of the season with another knee injury in the second leg against Bayern, but somehow Arsenal prevailed.

Arsenal also travelled to Germany without their forwards Caitlin Foord and Lina Hurtig, who are both close to returning from injury, while Gio Queiroz and Jodie Taylor are not registered to play in the Champions League.

Without Williamson, Arsenal are being stretched that bit too far. In Wolfsburg, to try and compensate Eidevall set up with a back three of Lotte Wubben-Moy, Jen Beattie and Souza, with Noelle Maritz and Steph Catley playing as wing-backs.

Two-time Champions League winners Wolfsburg were without their talismanic captain Alex Popp, but the competition’s leading goalscorer this season, Pajor, seamlessly replaced her up front.

Arsenal had seemed to weather the loss of their players to injury but against the Bundesliga title contenders they struggled. Jónsdóttir was particularly potent, and Arsenal had an early warning of her threat when a ball towards the forward caught out Wubben-Moy but goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger had read the danger and came out to collect.

The home side were dynamic and the back three struggled, with the unnatural formation sowing confusion – who should go, who should stay - whenever the ball was played into the box. In the 19th minute Wolfsburg took a deserved lead, with Jónsdóttir gliding the ball between Wubben-Moy and Beattie for Pajor to fire past Zinsberger.

Pajor danced into the box minutes later on the right but Arsenal desperately snuffed out the danger. A minute later though, they gifted a second. Zinsberger’s goalkick was played short to Beattie, the Scot sent it to her left to Souza but to her surprise the Brazilian defender passed it back to her; the miscommunication meant the ball rolled to Jónsdóttir to turn in from close range.

Eidevall fumed at the fourth official, presumably arguing that there was an offside which preceded the goalkick but there could be few arguments given this was a goal entirely of Arsenal’s making.

The manner of that concession seemed to whip the air out of Arsenal’s lungs and Wolfsburg went close to a third shortly after with Jónsdóttir heading Svenja Huth’s cross narrowly over the bar.

But this current Arsenal side can’t be written off. Little said before the game that shared adversity on and off the pitch had helped to “put a little bit more fire in the side, I think that’s natural when things like that happen.

“As you grow as a team you build resilience and you’re able to reach those higher levels. I think we’ve reached that level more times this year than we have done in the previous years.”

Against the odds, they found that level in Germany. On the stroke of half-time Arsenal scored a goal decidedly against the run of play that would light a fire under them after the lukewarm start. Catley’s corner was swung towards the back post where Souza rose highest to head powerfully in.

The second half was far more even, as much a result of Wolfsburg shrinking away from being in the driving seat in the tie as Arsenal growing in confidence.

In the 69th minute they had what had seemed a highly improbable equaliser but which they deserved thanks to their battling performance. Wubben-Moy began the move, playing a long ball through to Victoria Pelova on the right and the Dutch international raced to the byline before cutting back for Blackstenius to prod over the line.

There was some late drama as Katie McCabe shoved over Lena Oberdorf following the German’s rough takedown of Lia Wälti and the yellow card she received angered the crowd. It was a microcosm of Arsenal’s second half, where tactical stoppages were the order of the day. It was the Arsenal fans who were jubilant on the final whistle and those in the green shirts of Wolfsburg who hunched to the ground. Arsenal move closer to the Champions League final, against all the odds.