Arsenal secured a seeded spot for the Champions League knockout playoffs with a comfortable 3-0 victory away at OH Leuven. Olivia Smith, Beth Mead and a Saar Janssen own goal saw Renée Slegers’ team secure their fourth win of the campaign to round off the inaugural league phase.
The similarities between the last two European campaigns for Arsenal are striking. Last Christmas, Arsenal secured qualification in their penultimate group game in Oslo, a result that kickstarted their run to lifting the coveted trophy in Lisbon back in May. Slegers’ side have mirrored that journey this year, albeit via the new Champions League format; wrapping progression up with a game to go despite faltering in the league, leaving only their finishing position up for grabs.
Automatic qualification for the quarter-finals was still a possibility for the Gunners but they would be relying on others around them to slip up. With all final league phase games kicking off at the same time, they needed a result to at least stay in position for the seeded playoff spots.
There was very little tension felt, however, among the Arsenal fans who were in buoyant mood. Around 1,000 were expected to gather in Leuven – 950 of whom had made the journey from England – and they appeared to be making the most of the famous Christmas market before kick-off. The atmosphere carried over into a sold-out Den Dreef where they were expecting a record crowd for a Belgian women’s club game.
