Arsenal head coach Renee Slegers said that her team’s 3-0 away at OH Leuven was a special occasion.
Goals from Olivia Smith, Beth Mead and an own goal gave the Gunners a sound victory to round off the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage.
And with 9,285 supporters watching the match – with more than 1,000 travelling Arsenal fans – it was also a record attendance for women’s football in Belgium.
Slegers was quick to praise the hosts and the attendance, calling it “a special night”, and explaining: “So two records, it’s us, the standing champions of Europe, playing against a team that’s making their debuts. And I think the way they have been performing, it’s really impressive. It says everything about how the game is growing. A team from Belgium is doing this and they’re also through to the knockout phase. So I think a special moment, a big moment for women’s football. But of course it was about the football and I’m happy we took the three points.
“So now it’s about recovery, getting back to London and prepare for the last one, which we look forward to getting started in the League Cup as well.”
That start is this weekend as they face Crystal Palace in the Subway Women’s League Cup quarter-finals.
Renee Slegers: Happy with the result
In terms of the European competition, the holders finished fifth in this group stage, meaning they will be in the play-offs when action resumes in February.
It is something of a turnaround bearing in mind they lost their first two games in Europe this season, falling to both Lyon and Bayern Munich.
And Slegers declared herself happy with what she had seen: “Happy with the clean sheet, happy with the three points of course. We kept track of the other games and the standings during the second half. The win was everything we could achieve today, so the three points were most important and we did that – so ended up in fifth place in the table.
“So we’ll see the draw, but really happy with the performance, clean sheet and result.”
