Bianconere suffer late defeat to Arsenal | OneFootball

A heartbreaking defeat for Juventus Women’s First Team, who held out for 89 minutes in their away match against Arsenal before conceding the decisive goal to make it 1-0 in the final moments, a result that sees the Bianconere eliminated from the UEFA Women's Champions League with two group stage matches left to play.

Let's relive all the emotions of Juventus Women’s 250th match.

THE MATCH REPORT

It was a fascinating match at London's Emirates Stadium for the Bianconere, which began with Arsenal keeping possession, but at a slow tempo for the opening 15 minutes of the encounter - a phase during which there were no great chances for either team. In the 17th minute, Valentina Bergamaschi tried to play Sofia Cantore in behind, but the pass was too heavy and easily mopped up by the Arsenal defence.

The first big chance fell to Arsenal who, in the 25th minute, recovered the ball in Juve’s half through Caitlin Foord, who in turn found Frida Maanum in a dangerous position, but her effort sailed over the bar. Four minutes later, the English side threatened once again, this time a mishit cross from the left struck Pauline Peyraud-Magnin’s crossbar.

The Bianconere tried to respond in the 33rd minute, when a quick freekick by Arianna Caruso found Cantore in space on the counter-attack, whose right-footed effort from the edge of the area was too central, and was once again easily dealt with.

The tempo and the intensity on display by both teams was very high, with the Bianconere frequently able to disrupt Arsenal's attacking build up during a very tactical first half: it remained 0-0 at halftime.

In the second half Juventus tried to pose more of a threat, especially from set pieces, but they were unable to perfectly execute any of them. The next big chance came Arsenal’s way, as in the 55th minute they managed to combine perfectly out wide, to break down the right hand-side before beating Peyraud-Magnin with the cross into the middle, but there was no-one on hand to divert the ball into an empty net.

Arsenal upped the pressure close to the hour mark, creating another great chance in the 58th minute through Maanum who came close to opening the scoring from the edge of the box. Just two minutes later came another huge opportunity for the hosts, with Peyraud-Magnin making a great claim as the Juve defence attempted to scramble the ball clear on their own goal line.

There was a need for fresh legs and for that reason coach Massimiliano Canzi introduced Barbara Bonansea and Lisa Boattin from the bench, to try to give bring more energy to the team, before then also calling upon Chiara Beccari and Cristiana Girelli: but these changes were unable to shift the game’s momentum, as Arsenal continued to apply pressure.

However, in the 75th minute Juventus Women had their biggest chance of the match: Bonansea set up Caruso perfectly with a delivery from the left, but the midfielder failed to strike her shot on goal cleanly and saw her effort deflected behind for a corner by Daphne van Domselaar.

The home team’s physicality became more influential as the game wore on, especially through Lina Hurtig who, came close to giving Arsenal the advantage in the 81st minute following a delivery into the penalty area. She then came close via a header, which Peyraud-Magnin was able to parry away to deny Hurtig tapping in the rebound.

Just when the game seemed to be heading for a draw, in the 89th minute, Arsenal broke the deadlock - at the end of another excellent move, Hurtig was on hand to find the back of the net from close range.

A heartbreaking end for the Bianconere and a 1-0 defeat that sees them eliminated from the UEFA Women's Champions League with two Group C matches still to play.

Gallery | Arsenal-Juventus Women

MASSIMILIANO CANZI

"I’m happy with the performance, we did what we had prepared to do and I’m proud of the girls. Maybe with a bit more luck we could have had a different result, but it was a good game. It’s disappointing to concede so late on because Arsenal had some chances, as did we, but we hoped to go home with at least a draw that would then leave things open, but I’m sorry for the girls because they played well.

"It’s disappointing that we can’t advance to the quarter-finals, of course, we thought we could do better, but we still have two games left and we’ll look to do our best in those."

VIOLA CALLIGARIS

"It was very intense, we knew it would be a difficult game and we tried to be compact. I think we did well but then the goal in the last minute is upsetting. It’s very disappointing to concede so late, we did well as a team and we all did well to fight until the end.

"We’re very disappointed that we can’t qualify. We could have done better, maybe with a little more luck, but we’ll keep working and stay focused on the upcoming games.”

ARSENAL 1-0 JUVENTUS

Emirates Stadium, Thursday 21 November, 2024 at 21:00 (CEST)

Goals: 89’ Hurtig (A)

Arsenal: van Domselaar, Fox, Williamson, Catley, McCabe, Walti, Little (88’ Kafaji), Foord (66’ Mead), Maanum (66’ Blackstenius), Caldentey, Russo (80’ Hurtig). Unused Substitutes: Zinsberger, Wubben-Moy, Codina, Kafaji, Moller Kuhl, Wienroither, Cooney-Cross, Williams, Reid. Coach: Renee Slegers.

Juventus: Peyraud-Magnin, Bergamaschi (66’ Bonansea), Lenzini, Calligaris, Cascarino, Krumbiegel (82’ Thomas), Bennison (66’ Boattin), Schatzer, Caruso, Cantore (74’ Beccari), Vangsgaard (74’ Girelli). Unused Substitutes: Kullberg, Lehmann, Rosucci, Bragonzi, Capelletti, Gallo, Proulx. Coach: Massimiliano Canzi.

Referee: Ewa Augustyn Assistants: Paulina Baranowska, Julia Bukarowicz Fourth Official: Monika Mularczyk

Bookings: 36’ Cascarino (J)

Next Match:

Como-Juventus* Women’s Serie A – Matchday Eleven* Sunday, 24 November, 2024 at 18:00 (CEST) Stadio Ferruccio