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Arsenal head coach Renée Slegers says that her side are remaining humble as they begin their UEFA Women’s Champions League title defence with a fixture against OL Lyonnes in Boreham Wood this evening.
The Gunners won a second European title by defeating Spanish giants FC Barcelona 1-0 in last season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League final in Lisbon.
Arsenal begin their defence of the trophy with a league phase fixture against former European champions OL Lyonnes. When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Slegers said that Arsenal hold huge respect for their opponents whilst highlighting the fact that the North Londoners are now starting out on a brand new journey in Europe.
“We are very excited, but it all starts over again, so we start from scratch,” Slegers said. “We’re very proud of what we did last year and there was a lot going into that, but we all start over again and everyone is constantly developing.
“Teams change and we’re going to play against an extremely strong opponent [in OL Lyonnes]. They’ve made a lot of changes as well in their squad. They have a new coach, so we’re extremely humble, but we of course also look forward to this occasion.”
Arsenal defeated OL Lyonnes 5-3 on aggregate in last season’s semi-finals. Slegers said that The Gunners can take some learnings from that occasion, although a lot of focus is put upon her own side.
She said “Preparation is always looking at ourselves, where we are at, what we want to prepare, our own changes and our own squads and then looking at the opposition and what they’ve been doing lately.
“Of course, it’s only a couple of months ago that we played against them and they still have similar players, so that’s something we definitely look at. We also look at the most relevant games from ourselves.”
Arsenal go into this evening’s tie winless in three matches. Slegers says that the club are working hard to get on the right side of the fine margins.
She said “It’s about margins. Of course, we’ve been talking about it internally; what details in our game model and in our football that we want to focus on, the things we want to develop.
“We look forward and we look at how hard we can work to get the margins on our side; both providing clarity on what we are going after and everyone putting in the work. That’s from a football perspective, but also about how you manage your game.
“Last Saturday [against Manchester City], we worked so hard to get an equaliser. It was disappointing to then concede that third goal on the other side. That’s, of course, things we look at and really learn from.”
Arsenal’s UEFA Women’s Champions League fixture against OL Lyonnes kicks-off at 8pm this evening. Tickets remain on-sale and can be purchased by clicking here.
