“In Norway you say that the worst lead is 2-0…” Frida Maanum tells us as a mischievous grin stretches across her face before she starts laughing. We’re sitting at a table in London Colney as the weather outside indecisively flits between rain and shine.
Maanum sits at the head of the table, the Norwegian is calm and appears in good spirits ahead of Arsenal’s UEFA Women’s Champions League second leg tie against Real Madrid. The Gunners lost the first leg in Madrid 2-0 on an abysmal playing surface but after beating Liverpool 4-0 on the Emirates carpet at the weekend belief is growing that Arsenal can turn the tie on its head.
The Halfway Line had the opportunity to speak with Maanum ahead of a season defining period for Arsenal.
‘We have done that before’ Maanum on second leg challenge
Maanum is a player who relishes her place on the grandest stages that football has to offer. It was the Norwegian’s wonder goal against Bayern Munich in the 2022/23 Champions League quarter final second leg that levelled that tie for Arsenal. A tie the Gunners would go onto prevail in.
In fact, you need not search so far into the past for Maanum’s penchant for the big occasion, the 25 year-old scored the first goal of Arsenal’s WSL campaign this year against Manchester City at the Emirates in September. And who could forget Maanum’s goal of the season contender against Brighton? Arsenal’s number 12 applied the icing on the cake of a 5-0 drubbing of the high flying Seagulls which helped set the tone of head coach Renée Slegers’ early tenure in charge of the North London club.
Once again an expectant crowd of over 20,000 will hope for a sprinkle of Maanum magic at the Emirates on Wednesday night, The Halfway Line asked the Gunners star about just whether Arsenal can come back? She replied:
“I think we’re a very strong team at home. I think you’ve seen that through the last years, and like you said, we came back in that game [Bayern Munich] as well. And I think we are bringing that confidence into this game as well.”
The midfielder continued, “We have done that before. I think it’s a cool challenge for us as well to have an offensive mindset going into this game.”
She concluded: “I think playing Real Madrid, we’re two nil down, but we have all the chances come back in that game. I kind of like to play those games, because you then have the opportunity to just go offensive on them and stress them. And in Norway, you say that the worst lead is 2-0…”
Playing at the Emirates ‘makes me smile’ says Maanum
Arsenal are currently going through the most turbulent period of the Renée Slegers era, an era that is still less than a season old and resembled more a green shoot than a sturdy oak. The momentum of initial success under the Dutch head coach has recently encountered a few bumps in the road but those bumps have been navigated, some expertly, and others while sustaining damage.
But this is the life of an elite football team, one that is peppered with highs, none more so than Arsenal’s 5-0 victory in the North London derby last month in which Maanum was on the scoresheet. After an up and down couple of weeks, we asked Maanum about the mood in the camp, she noted:
“I think the mood is really good in the team. I think we have exciting games coming ahead.” Maanum continued, “I think coming back to our home ground is going to be a brilliant way to come back after these [difficult] games as well.”
Real Madrid’s victory was a blow for Arsenal but so was their defeat to Liverpool’s in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup, one that has now been avenged in convincing style at the Emirates. So with focus shifted to playing Madrid The Halfway Line asked Maanum about seeking revenge once more with the Emirates stadium behind the team every step of the way. The Nordic midfielder provided an impassioned response:
“I think we all feel a bit kind of revenge within the team. I think you can see it in training. People are on their toes because we want to perform in a better way than we’ve done in the previous games, especially now with the last game [in Madrid], but I think that’s a positive thing to have within the team, to have that hunger to show ourselves from a better way than we’ve done.”
When considering the Emirates she pauses for a moment, as if the words are searching for her amongst the voices of tens of thousands in N5 singing to that familiar Belinda Carlisle tune, ‘Frida Maanum is the best on earth’ but the words do find Maanum and she wholeheartedly concludes:
“There’s no better place, and I can speak for myself only, but to play at Emirates in front of our fantastic fans, and to have the opportunity to now do that. It’s just, yeah, it makes me smile.”
‘It’s special to play against your team mates’ Maanum looks ahead to EURO 2025
For many of Arsenal’s European players this Summer represents a big opportunity, a European Championships which looks as open as perhaps the tournament ever has. Maanum’s Norway will be hoping to go further than their disappointing showing last time out where they were eliminated at the group stage. The Arsenal star explained:
“We have a camp coming up soon, and obviously, for my own case [I’m] focused on the season now, but we all know that the Euros is coming, and it’s exciting. We have an exciting group as well.
We play a lot of those [same] games in the Nations League now which is a bit special as well, leading up to the Euros. But I’m just focusing on Arsenal right now.”
Norway face Iceland and Switzerland in the UEFA Nations league before facing both again in their group at EURO 2025. The curtain raiser for the tournament sees Maanum’s nation face Switzerland and The Halfway Line was keen to know if she and her Arsenal team mate, Switzerland captain Lia Wälti, had bantered about the encounter just yet, she laughed:
“We haven’t actually talked about that yet. It’s probably coming! We played in the last camp, and it was a tough, even game I’d say. We always play those tough, even games against Switzerland.”
“It’s special to play against teammates, because you know their strengths…” she chuckled before sheepishly continuing: “and you probably know their weaknesses as well, which you can use to your advantage.”
‘We have the potential’ Maanum on Norway’s EURO 2025 chances
In 1995 Norway lifted the FIFA Women’s World Cup for the one and only time, the team, led by the unstoppable Hege Riise were the best football team on the planet at the time. However 30 years on from that victory Norway have not tasted World Cup nor European Championship tournament success again despite the wealth of talent at their disposal in that time.
A round of 16 exit at the World Cup in 2023 represented an improvement from the Euros of the previous Summer, but Maanum was asked why the national team has struggled to live up to it’s hard earned reputation of success in recent times. She contemplated the question before answering:
“The women’s team in Norway have done previously very well, and I think obviously the expectations come from there too.
I think we have a depth in our squad and we have a good starting 11 as well, like [we have] class players up front with obviously Caro [Caroline Graham Hansen] in Barcelona, Guro [Reiten] in Chelsea, and Ada [Hegerberg] at Lyon. I think they obviously stand out as the star players. So I do think we have the potential, then obviously you have to get the potential out in the games as well.”
Maanum continued: “I think it’s hard to say [why Norway haven’t performed]. Obviously we haven’t performed and we’re quite aware of that in the previous major tournaments. We have a new coach now with Gemma [Grainger], I think it’s been working really well under her you could see the progression in our game and in us as a team. So I think we have all the chances to go far in the euros, but then for us to take each game at a time and I think we have the potential in the team.”
The Halfway Line asked Maanum which of her Norway team mates we should look out for ahead of the tournament, she replied:
“I think obviously. I don’t want to mention players in other clubs, especially in England!” Maanum joked and with a smile on her face she continued: “But I’d have to probably mention Elisabeth Terland. She’s been great for [Manchester] United, she came last season. I think she’s a great talent to have within our squad as well, she gives a lot to the team. So I’ll probably highlight her.”
Maanum has been one of the WSL’s most consistent performers since arriving at Arsenal in 2021. The Norwegian is an essential cog in the Arsenal machine, and if the Gunners are to turn the tie around on Wednesday evening it’s a safe bet that their charismatic Nordic star will have something to do with it.
