Women’s Champions Cup final: Arsenal chase more glory against ‘intense’ Corinthians | OneFootball

Renée Slegers praised the impact of trailblazing hijab-wearing footballer Nouhaila Benzina after Arsenal’s defeat of Moroccan side AS Far earned them a place in Sunday’s Champions Cup final against Corinthians.

Asked about the impact of Benzina competing in the new cross-continental club competition in London, with no hijab-wearing players currently playing in the Women’s Super League, Slegers said: “The strength of football in society is that football is for everyone. It’s really good that we have role models in all possible ways to show that football is for everyone. That just makes me happy. It’s important. There are so many examples and different ways of how we can show that football is for everyone. This is one of them, so that’s great.”

More widely, the Arsenal manager said the opportunity for clubs from continents much further behind the development of women’s football in Europe and the US to showcase their leagues, countries and continents “means a lot”. She said: “Norms have to be broken to get where we want women’s football to go. That’s what they’re doing. They’re trailblazers and they’re doing things that are bigger than what they maybe know they’re doing.”

AS Far was a step into the unknown for Arsenal with it being the first time a European and African club team have played against each other in an official competitive match. Arsenal were untroubled by the Moroccan champions, earning a 6-0 win at Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium on Wednesday. Corinthians will prove to be another unknown entity for the current European champions.

“We are very proud to be in this tournament, we are very proud to be the champions of Europe and we look forward to playing against the champions of South America,” said Slegers. “We are very respectful of the opposition, we are very humble also because of the unknown. So, we go into this game believing in ourselves and knowing how good we are. We are happy to play at the Emirates, our home stadium, but we will also respect the opposition. It’s a final, so they’re going to give absolutely everything, together with the fans. We’re prepared for that.”

Slegers has the same squad available to her as she did for the game against AS Far. She is “really happy to have Chloe Kelly back” and “Leah Williamson is progressing really well”.

“Scheduling is very important,” Slegers said. “We grow the game and we want a lot of things, but we also have to have the players’ health in mind in all the decisions we make. I’m really happy with the games that we’re playing and at the moment with the squad that we have, the depth that we have and the availability that we have. We have the squad to do it.”

The energy of the Corinthians fans was one of the highlights of their semi-final victory over Gotham FC at Brentford. The noise from the crowd will be far from one-way at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.

“They’re going to bring the intensity together with their fans,” said Slegers. “They were amazing watching the game against Gotham with the energy they brought. Our fans are going to bring energy and the intensity as well. It will be a great football event.

“Football is growing everywhere around the world. AS Far is a good example of that; another continent, another culture, but there’s so many things to the way they play and it’s at such a high level and I think tactically you see that there’s a trend globally.”

Regardless of the chaos around the competition, there is a chance for Arsenal to add to their rich history at the weekend, namely the opportunity to be crowned inaugural global club champions. “We’re very excited about the final, we look forward to it and it’s a special moment for us, for the players, for the club,” said Slegers.

“The team’s in a good place. We have to work really hard to keep on delivering and sustain our levels. So we can’t be complacent about anything, especially not going into this final because Corinthians are a very good team.”

Header image: [Photograph: Harriet Lander/FIFA/Getty Images]