It was a comeback for the ages at Arsenal Stadium as we beat Real Madrid 3-2 on aggregate in the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Leah Williamson and Alessia Russo couldn’t hide the smiles when they arrived for our post-match interview, and said it was a joy to play in such an occasion.
“It was amazing,” Alessia said, after scoring twice and having another two goals ruled out. “I don't think it's set in yet. I mean, obviously last week we were disappointed, but I think as soon as we knew we were coming home to the Emirates, we had a whole belief within the squad, within the team, that we could turn it around.
“As soon as we set out from the first minute, I felt like we were on top, although it took a little while for the first goal. But yeah, we have that belief in the team and we knew we could turn it around.”
“We just spoke about being one tiny bit calmer on the ball,” Leah added. “We're getting into great areas. Be calm, be composed, put the ball away. And we were speaking about two goals in three minutes. So we knew that we had that in our locker, so it was like as soon as we got the first, there we go.”
As a kid, Russo would dream of Champions League nights. Now, she’s one of the stars of the show.
“I think playing Champions League nights at Emirates is what it's all about,” she explained. “That's what we want to be doing. That's what this club deserves. And yeah, the fans deserved it too tonight. They were so loud. They were with us all the way. But yeah, this is just what you want to be doing when you're playing football.”
This is now the eighth time that we've reached the Champions League semi-finals, and to Leah it means even more.
“Yeah, it does,” she said. “Like I said, I'm friends with a lot of people that won it last time. Well, I would call them friends. I hope they would call me that! And I know how much they want that to stay within the club and us to do it again. And we've not been close enough, if we're being honest. So we have to try and get back there. This was the right step.
“Champions League attendance record, I think, for a quarter-final. So it's like everyone's together and everyone's driving in the right direction. But we know that that's tough. So we'll celebrate today and then back to the drawing board Friday. And we start again.”
Speaking of records, it's been 20 years since anyone's overturned a 2-0 deficit in a quarter-final. We were the last team to do that in 2004.
“It's a nice stat, you should have told me that before,” Leah joked.
“As soon as we'd lost away to Real Madrid, obviously there was a lot of disappointment there,” Alessia added. “But after that had passed, we were like, right, OK, let's do this. And I think the whole squad, the whole staff, we had this belief. And we did quite a lot of work going into the week.
“But today we didn't really say a whole lot. The message was clear. We knew what we wanted as a team. We knew what we'd prepared for. And yeah, we just had to go and deliver it tonight.”
We know our semi-final opponents already will be Lyon and the players are now looking forward to another battle against them.
“Joe [Montemurro] as well, obviously, used to be the manager here,” Leah said. “So it'll be a tough game, we know that. But I think when we're playing like we are tonight, then getting into the next round, that's the job done. And now it's about being ready. Because we don't want to put ourselves in the same position. Great that we came back, but we shouldn't have put ourselves in that position in the first place.”
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