On Thursday night Arsenal completed the UEFA Women’s Champions League double over Juventus, to send the Turin side home and out of the competition and in the process fire themselves through to the quarter finals. After the victory The Halfway Line had the opportunity to speak with Lia Wälti after a well earned victory for the North London side.
Wälti on ‘a tough game’ and ‘a tough week’
Arsenal have had a busy period of late, playing three matches in the last nine days. The Gunners had two make or break Champions League matches against Juventus either side of a North London derby away to Tottenham. Wälti gave her assessment of how she felt after the final match of that block of fixtures, noting, “[I’m feeling] happy, I think it was a tough game, it was a tough week. We have done really well in the last couple of weeks brought the results home and qualifying for the quarters that is obviously the job done for tonight, it was incredible to get that late winner.”
‘We want to top the group’ says Wälti
Arsenal’s confirmed progression last night with victory and results elsewhere in the group also went in their favour, Vålerenga scored a surprise late draw with Bayern Munich, meaning that two wins from their final two games will guarantee Arsenal top the group. I asked Wälti if that was something the team were considering, she explained, “I think [we take it] game by game, obviously it was a good result for us as well between Bayern and Vålerenga but at the same time we are focusing on our National teams right now.” She continued, “When coming back we have a few jobs to do, we want to win all the games until the end of the year. And yeah of course we want to top the group if we have the chance.”
Substitutions gave Arsenal ‘new energy’
Arsenal had to wait until the 89th minute for the breakthrough but when they got the chance, Lina Hurtig took it. The goal eliminated Hurtig’s former club from the competition. When asked if a winner felt inevitable Wälti explained, “I think you could feel it a little bit coming in the end. When we did the substitutions we had new energy on the pitch and created a few chances. I’m really happy for Lina herself but also for the team. I think she deserved that goal and we deserved that win.”
When asked about the feeling in the squad as a whole Wälti responded, “the confidence is growing and the positivity is growing.”
Renée Slegers has ‘stayed true to herself’
Renée Slegers has been entrusted to guide the ship until this international break, while it seems likely her interim deal will be extended Wälti was asked on her thoughts about Slegers, she responded, “I think she is doing a great job, it was not easy for her stepping into that role and I think she just stayed true to herself and given a lot of positivity and trust to the players. She hasn’t changed that much but i think she is doing the best possible thing, and we all feel really comfortable with her.”
Switzerland have ‘built something’ in the lead up to EURO 2025
I asked Wälti, the Switzerland captain, about the upcoming international break where her side will face Germany and reigning European champions England. She replied, “yeah big games coming up, not easy games for us. But we have done well in the last camp, we’ve built something and we’ve created some kind of hype around the team and I think we just want to keep going with that.”
I reminded Wälti of her Arsenal team mates she is set to face in this international window, she smiled, “its always cool to be tested against the best teams in the world, Germany is one of the best teams, England is one of the best teams and of course its even more special to play against some of your team mates.”
Arsenal have Vålerenga away next up in the Champions League before finishing their group stage campaign in the controversially re-located finale against Bayern Munich at Meadow Park.
