Alessia Russo scored Arsenal’s first goal in the UEFA Women’s Champions League this season – but it was in a losing effort against Lyon.
Two goals from Melchie Dumornay gave the French team victory at Meadow Park, Borehamwood, on Tuesday night.
The Gunners are now without a win in four matches.
“At the moment we’re in a bit of a blip – we’re aware of that,” Russo told Alex Scott and Fara Williams on ESPN’s broadcast coverage.
And although she went on to admit that the team were disappointed, she added that they were not going to dwell on the loss.
“We’re disappointed to not get three points at home, but we’ll learn from it,” she said to the club website. “I think it’s a long process in the Champions League, we felt that last season.
“We saw spells tonight that were really positive, so it’s about leaning on that, learning from the mistakes that we made and pushing forward. With football you have to move so quickly so that’s what we’ll do.”
Alessia Russo: Arsenal looking to bounce back
She added that the squad would look to move on as quickly as possible before the next game.
“I find it really difficult to reflect right after the game, we’ll look over some stuff in the next few days, but it’s about ourselves – how we can be better, how we can push each other and ultimately bounce back from a tough period.
“That’s what we want, we don’t want to be dwelling on the past. We’ve got another opportunity on Sunday and next week. We want to build the momentum now, because we don’t like losing and we have really high standards as a team.
“We’ve had tough moments and we’ve risen bigger than ever. I have no doubt and I have full belief in the squad and the staff that we’ll do that. It’s just about regrouping, refocusing and pushing the standards even higher.”
Arsenal also lost to Lyon in the Women’s Champions League last season, when they faced them in the semi-final. Then, Lyon again got a 2-1 victory, albeit that time at the Emirates – but the Gunners got through to the final with a 4-1 win in France.
Arsenal’s next match in the Champions League comes next Thursday, when they travel to Benfica.
Before then, they host Brighton and Hove Albion as they look to get back to winning ways in the Women’s Super League. They currently sit fifth in the table, having drawn against Manchester United and Aston Villa then losing to Manchester City in their three most recent matches.
