Arsenal Women Come From Behind To Draw In Women’s Chapions Legue Semi-Final First Leg

Goals from Rafaelle Souza and Stina Blackstenius saw Arsenal complete a superb comeback, drawing 2-2 at Wolfsburg in their Women’s Champions League semi-final first leg.

It was a much-needed result at the end of a damaging week for the Gunners. Their captain Kim Little and vice captain Leah Williamson have both been ruled out for the season with injury, as well as suffering a damaging 1-0 defeat to Manchester United in the WSL on Wednesday.

But Sunday’s draw showed there is plenty of fight left in this Arsenal team yet – although they did not make life easy for themselves.

They fell behind in the 19th minute as Women’s Champions League top scorer Ewa Pajor swept home. A poor error from Arsenal defence then allowed Sveindis Jane Jonsdottir to double Wolfsburg’s lead in the 24th minute.

But the comeback began as Rafaelle Souza nodded home from a corner just before half-time, scoring her first European goal. It was then a superb link-up between Victoria Pelova and Stina Blackstenius that saw the latter tap in the 69th-minute equaliser.

Wolfsburg pushed hard for the third goal late on, but Arsenal survived the onslaught to set up a mouth-watering second leg at the Emirates on May 1 as the Gunners aim to reach their first European final since 2007.

After the game, Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall praised his side for their comeback, telling Sky Sports News: “Just because you make one mistake, you can’t change that.

“So I thought it was really important to stick to our identity and I thought the players were so good at doing that. They were completely fearless and I admire that. I’m so proud of them for doing that.”