Gunners shooting party! During the 3rd day of the Champions League, Arsenal achieved a very good operation by bringing back three points from their trip to Turin on Tuesday evening (0-4). Thanks to this deserved victory, Lia Wälti’s teammates (6 pts) take second place in group C alone, three steps ahead of Juventus. They are taking a small step towards qualifying for the quarter-finals, while Bayern, 3-0 winner over Norwegian Valerenga, continues their flawless performance (9 pts).
The north London club is doing better. After a very complicated start to the season, which cost Jonas Eidevall his place, he was able to raise his head: in the last five games, the English scored 16 goals, conceding three. The results since Renée Slegers took over as interim? Four successes and one draw. The opener is the perfect example of the Gunners’ revival. A superb collective action – back pass, support play, shift and return in one touch – concluded by Frida Maanum (38th).
Involved at the start of this school action, the captain of the Swiss team Lia Wälti was replaced at the end of the match. On the Italian side, Viola Calligaris gave up her place in the 69th. And the Serie A leader, forced to uncover himself to equalize, took to the water. Stina Blackstenius (75th), Mariona Caldentey (80th) and Caitlin Foord (87th) took the opportunity to correct the Old Lady, to the great dismay of Alisha Lehmann, who remained on the bench.
In group D, Geneva’s Smilla Vallotto – who returned at the very end of the match – and Hammarby IF will need several exploits to get out of the group stage. Beaten 2-0 on the Manchester City pitch, they are six points behind the English and three behind the Barcelona, double title holders.
Corrected 9-0 in Catalonia during the last match, the Swedish champions however showed a completely different face on Tuesday. Although dominated, they could have had a better fate if Thea Sorbo’s shot had not hit the crossbar. We then played the 74th minute and the score was 1-0 in favor of the Mancuniennes.
For its part, Barça produced a new demonstration by dominating the Austrians of SKN St. Pölten 7-0, the red lantern. Present on the match sheet, 17-year-old Zurich native Sydney Schertenleib will still have to wait before playing her first minutes in the Champions League.
