Arsenal Advance Into RO16 Despite Loss

Arsenal Women’s team despited an embarrassing 1-4 loss against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Ladies advanced to the knockout stages of the Women’s Champions League.

In the Group C match both the teams were battling it out for the second spot in the group as defending champions Barcelona Femini have already secured the first spot. The German team were 3 points behind the Gunners before the match and needed to win the match by a five goals margin to advance to the next stage.

Jule Brand opened the scoring for the hosts before Laura Wienroither’s own goal put the sides level at half-time.
The German club scored three goals in quick succession. Chantal Hagel netted twice and Gia Corley once as Hoffenheim rattled the visitors early in the second half.

The German side, who lost the reverse fixture 4-0 in October, had their campaign ended despite finishing level on points with the Gunners and putting four goals past the Women’s Super League leaders themselves.

In the post-match Press Conference Arsenal boss, Jonas Eidevall said it was “a terrible feeling” to see their Women’s Champions League quarter-final spot almost “slip through our hands” in a 4-1 defeat at Hoffenheim.

“It’s the worst thing in the world to feel you are losing something that’s basically 100% secure before the game,” Eidevall said.

“In five minutes, we conceded three goals, and two of them is just us giving away the ball. We gave goals to them for free.

“It’s terrible to have the feeling of ‘is this going to slip through our hands?’

“Then it’s a positive that we recomposed ourselves into the game, and then we go through.

“So it’s a very weird feeling.”