Frida Maanum is relishing in the ‘amazing’ experience of playing in the Champions Cup as Arsenal book a final meeting with Corinthians.
The midfielder was the Player of the Match in Arsenal’s comprehensive 6-0 victory over AS FAR, leading her side to a place in the inaugural FIFA Women’s Champions Cup final.
Speaking to the media after the fixture, Maanum reflected on her performance in Brentford.
“It feels good for me,” Maanum said. “It was good to get 90 minutes, and to play the whole game today, and to be able to help the team to win today was a really nice feeling.
“My body felt good – good mentally and good physically.”
The victory tees up a final meeting with Brazilian side Corinthians, who downed NWSL and CONCACAF champions Gotham in a 1-0 win earlier in the day. Arsenal will face off against Corinthians at Emirates Stadium this weekend, something Maanum is very excited about.
“To be honest, I haven’t really watched them that much,” Maanum analysed on the final opponent. “I watched a bit of the game against Gotham today, and I think they’re a good opponent. They obviously won against Gotham, which is a really good team for us. So that says a lot.
“So, we’re gonna analyse this game and then move forward to the game against them on Sunday.
“We love to play at the Emirates in front of our fans, and we hope as many people come more to Emirates and support us.”
Frida Maanum praises ‘amazing’ opportunity for Arsenal to play in the Champions Cup
Sunday’s game between the European and South American champions will decide the winner of the very first FIFA Champions Cup in the women’s game. Despite facing a congested period of the season, Maanum made it clear that Arsenal are not taking this opportunity for granted.
“It’s definitely exciting for us, exciting to be a part of this tournament for the first time, and we’re now in a final and be able to maybe win this trophy,” Maanum expressed. “That’s obviously something that stands really high for us as players, to win trophies and as a team, and we want to do that on Sunday.
“So for me personally, it’s amazing to be part of this tournament and as a team, it’s a cool experience.
“Arsenal have great fans, but we saw earlier today, even they’re small numbers, well, big numbers for a Brazilian side, but they made so much noise. I actually saw a couple of videos before the game, so that makes me really happy that they have a lot of fans, and we have a lot of fans, so I think it’s going to be a good game.”
When asked how Arsenal prepare to play against a side unknown to them, Maanum said that she is relishing in the opportunity to gain a new experience against one of the world’s top teams.
“I think it’s really nice experience and it’s something you not get to do that often,” she said. “When you play Chelsea or United, you know what you’re playing against.
“Whereas this is different games, and they really impressed me today in the game as well the way they play that they were technical players, and they really tried to play out from the back. And I think that’s really cool to play against different type of players and different type of systems. So it’s a very nice experience to be part of this.”
