Arsenal Women 3 PSV 1
Mana Iwabuchi continued her impressive start to life as an Arsenal player as her two goals helped send them into the second round of the Women’s Champions League with a 3-1 victory over PSV Eindhoven.
The Japan number 10’s brace, including a terrific effort in the first half, took her tally to three goals in her first two competitive appearance for the north London club since her summer move from Aston Villa.
Holland star Vivianne Miedema had earlier opened the scoring from close range for Arsenal, who will learn their second-round opponents in Sunday’s draw (midday BST), with teams including Manchester City and seven-time champions Lyon entering the competition at the second-round stage.
When 2-0 up and in control, Arsenal did briefly allow PSV back into the game when they conceded a poor goal from a defensive point of view, as a bouncing, route-one ball through the middle caught out centre-back Simone Boye Sorensen and was slotted home clinically by 18-year-old PSV forward Esmee Brugts.
But a confident Iwabuchi restored Jonas Eidevall’s team’s two-goal cushion on the rebound from a low Miedema effort, after earlier dazzling with a sublime strike into the top corner, across the face of goal, from wide on the left after Beth Mead’s short corner. It was a delightful goal that will excite Arsenal fans ahead of the new Women’s Super League season, which begins on 3 September.
The result made it two wins from two for Eidevall; so far, so good, but now things get much more serious.
Only with progression through a two-legged, second-round tie can they reach the group stage in Europe, which begins in October. English champions Chelsea are among the sides already to be assured of a place in the group stage, with the Women’s Champions League using a new format this term.
Sunday’s second-round draw is likely to throw up a big challenge for Arsenal, who are set to face one of the following four teams: their new manager Eidevall’s old side Rosengard, who reached last season’s quarter-finals under the Swedish coach; Slavia Prague, a team they hammered 13-2 on aggregate in 2019 and the team all the non-seeded sides will privately hope to face; five-time finalists Wolfsburg, who have a very strong pedigree in the women’s game, or seven-time champions Lyon, the most successful team in the history of the competition by far.
They cannot face Manchester City, whose potential opponents among the unseeded clubs include Spanish giants Real Madrid.
Match details
Arsenal (4-3-3): Zinsberger; Maritz, Boye Sorensen, Beattie (Wubben-Moy, 73), Oatley; Little, Maanum, Iwabuchi (Ford, 73); Mead (Parris, 66), Miedema (Patten, 90+1), McCabe
Subs not used: Williams (gk), Cull (gk), Goldie,
Yellow cards: Maritz, McCabe
PSV (4-3-3): Van Veenendaal; Rodriguez (Snellenburg, 69_, Aldus, Van den Berg, Levels; Biesmans (Harrison, 77), Van Lunteren, Georgina Carreras (Rask, 46); Pattiwael (Jean, 46),Thestrup, Brugts (Moreno Santos, 84)
Subs not used: De Jong (gk), Alkemade (gk), Bross, Coolen, Smits, Koeleman
Yellow cards: Rodriguez, Biesmans
Referee: Petra Pavlikova (Slovakia)