Arsenal midfielder Mariona Caldentey said “almost everything” needs to be better, following a laboured 2-0 defeat of Benfica to secure the holders’ first win of the new Champions League campaign.
England forward Beth Mead sent the ball crawling over the line in the second half after a scramble in the box before Alessia Russo killed off the game with their second in Portugal.
It wasn’t pretty in the Estádio da Luz, but it was enough, just, with Arsenal’s lack of cutting edge remaining a major concern.
“Really happy because we have won. It’s not easy to come here after losing the first game, so it was really important for us. At the same time, we need to be better,” Caldentey told Disney+. Asked what they need to be better at, she added: “Almost everything. We need to be more consistent defensively and we have so much quality up front that we should score more goals. It’s not one or two players, it’s all of us…It’s hard. Football is about momentum and sometimes it’s hard to change that dynamic.”
The return to the city of their heroic underdog triumph over Barcelona in the Champions League final in May, this time in Benfica’s home instead of Sporting CP’s José Alvalade Stadium, was shrouded in far less optimism this time round.
