MY ACCOUNT
Arsenal secured a place in the quarter-finals of the Women’s Champions League despite a 1-0 defeat to Lyon on Thursday, in a game overshadowed by Vivianne Miedema suffering a potentially serious knee injury.
Gunners defender Frida Maanum put through her own net on the stroke of half-time to hand the reigning champions victory at the Emirates Stadium, leaving both sides on 10 points in Group C.
Jonas Eidevall’s team knew they would qualify with anything less than a four-goal loss after establishing a head-to-head advantage by hammering Lyon 5-1 away from home in October.
However, the sight of a distressed Miedema leaving the field on a stretcher after appearing to catch her studs in the turf will provide cause for concern.
Miedema — the Champions League’s top goalscorer in the 2016-17 and 2019-20 campaigns — has hit the net twice in the competition this season.
In Group C’s other fixture, a four-goal haul from Cristiana Girelli helped Juventus profit from Irina Pando’s red card in a 5-0 win over Zurich, teeing up a winner-take-all meeting with Lyon next week.
Meanwhile, Barcelona and Bayern Munich both ensured qualification from Group D, with the Spanish champions doing so in emphatic fashion with a 6-2 rout of Benfica.
Bayern joined them in racking up the goals with a 4-0 win at Rosengard, as Georgia Stanway joined Tainara, Sydney Lohmann and Julia Landenberger on the scoresheet.
