Impetus’ Johnathan Stack was in Arsenal’s post-match media conference for us following their draw with Juventus in Lyon, and Jean-Pierre Thiesset reflects on Olympique Lyonnais’ 3-0 win at FC Zürich (26/11/22).
Above: Vivianne Miedema and Lotte Wubben-Moy celebrate after the Dutch star levelled the scores. Photo: Arsenal Women.
Miedema To The Rescue As Gunners Stay Top
by Johnathan Stack
Vivianne Miedema came to Arsenal’s rescue on Thursday night as the Gunners drew 1-1 with Juventus in Turin.
Arsenal had several players missing including injured England forward Beth Mead, and they fell behind early following a swift counterattack was finished by Lineth Beerensteyn who slotted Juventus ahead in the second half.
Miedema then headed in from a corner to equalise just after the hour, but the Gunners could not conjure up a late winner.
After the match Head coach Jonas Eidevall gave his thoughts: “I think we could have won given the chances that we created but sometimes football is like that. I’m happy with the performance, I think we came from a really tough game against Manchester United and I think we have a tough situation in the squad with injuries.
“I’m extremely proud of the players in the team and the way that we came here and got back to our way of playing against a very tough team like Juventus. I think we created enough to win the game but that shows our performance was good and that is something that we can build on for the Everton game (this weekend).”
Eidevall was full of praise for his side’s determination to fight back from a goal down and take a share of the spoils which sees Arsenal stay top of Group C in the UEFA Women’s Champions League saying: “It should give all of our supporters a lot of pride (battling back). One of the fundamentals – and we only have three fundamentals – one of them is 100% and that’s no matter the result, no matter the situation. We have an obligation to always play 100% and always compete in every second of the game. We’re doing that and I’m proud of that.”
Next up for Arsenal is Everton as they return to action on Saturday 3 December in the Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Meadow Park.
Lyon Get Off The Mark At Last
After a shocking 5-1 loss at home, and a 1-1 in Turin against Juventus, Lyon finally obtained their first win in the Champions League this season with a 3-0 success away at FC Zürich.
Lyon dominated the game apart from the very end when Zürich had a few opportunities. Melvine Malard opened the scoring after just four minutes with a header at the back post from Eugénie Le Sommer’s corner from the left-hand side.
With the first goal scored so early, Lyon’s players were buoyed. Delphine Cascarino delivered a great performance with nine crosses and two shots in only 56 minutes (statistics recorded by Jean-Pierre Thiesset during the game) before she was replaced by the young Vicky Becho.
However, none of Cascarino’s crosses found teammates to score and we had to wait until the 35th minute to see Signe Bruun open her account after Malard found Le Sommer who returned the favour with Malard finding Bruun with her heel.
Bruun made it 3-0 after 66 minutes thanks to another great pass from Malard who headed across a ball in from Janice Cayman. Cayman put in a great performance too with the following statistics (recorded during the game by Jean-Pierre Thiesset) in only 75 minutes in the game: 52 balls played, 34 passes with 91% successful, seven crosses, two shots, eight balls won, and was involved in Lyon’s third goal.
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