Renee Slegers was over the moon with the performance and the result after seeing her team come from 2-0 down to beat Real Madrid 3-2 on aggregate in the second leg of the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-finals.
“I’m very happy for the girls,” she told us after the match. “They invest a lot. Of course, coming back from the 2-0 in Madrid and then we played Liverpool last Saturday and then a big game with a lot of pressure on us, I think, to perform and to score at least three goals.”
Responding to setbacks has been one of the themes of this season, such as in entertaining games against Manchester City and West Ham United, but this win over Madrid represented a different kind of comeback.
“I think you see that today the players came out full of belief and executed the game plan with so much intensity today,” Renee added. “They energised each other and the crowd, all the fans in the stadium, they energised the players. We tried to do our duty and do the same thing back.
“I think it was a great performance tonight and I'm very happy with the result, of course.”
"Singing North London Forever in the huddle after the game together with the staff and players was a special moment"
At half-time, it was clear that, if we could get players on the end of Chloe Kelly’s crosses, we’d have a chance of breaking through Madrid’s defence, and that’s exactly what happened not once but twice at the start of the second half.
“It was good, but I think we were very energetic in the first half as well,” Renee said. “I think our pressing was so intense. Madrid had problems coming out of their half. We did so well.
“A lot of things we did really well in the first half. It was just about finding the right spaces and setting up the right situations in the final third. I think we were a little bit more composed and a little bit clearer in what we wanted to do in the second half.
“Yeah, of course, it pays off straight away, but it's mostly about the players and their belief in the quality they bring.”
We had to provide a special mention for Daphne van Domselaar, who kept hold of a vital clean sheet with a couple of huge saves on the night.
“All the players are important,” Renee said. “You know against Real Madrid, you saw it in their away game, they get a couple of chances. They will create a couple of chances in the game, not many, but they will be big chances because of the way they play and the qualities they have. For Daphne to make that save in extra time is so important for the team.”
Lastly, we asked Renee about how special it was to be a part of the huddle at full-time, with supporters belting out North London Forever all around them.
“I think they were very active the whole game through and they kept on cheering us on,” Renee said. “There were some special moments, I think. It's always on us to deliver, whether there are fans or not, but this is just so special being a part of Arsenal, playing at the Emirates, so many fans behind us, red and white all over.
“And yeah, we were singing the North London Forever song in the huddle after the game together with the staff and players for a special moment.”
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