Arsenal and Chelsea still have ‘opportunity’ to reach Women’s Champions League final, says Anita Asante

Chelsea and Arsenal can still reach the Women’s Champions League final, as long as they learn the lessons from their semi-final first-leg defeats, according to former England international Anita Asante.

Both teams lost the first leg of their semi-finals, with Chelsea stunned in a 4-1 defeat by current holders Barcelona and Arsenal losing in a closer 2-1 game against Lyon at the Emirates.

Asante, who played for both Arsenal and Chelsea, does not rule out a comeback in either tie, but explained that the Blues will need to play with more control and show “bravery” at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

“They can’t start as slow as they did in the first leg,” Asante said. “They have to begin the game with energy and intensity and not allow Barcelona to get into their passing rhythm.

“I think a better coordinated understanding of where they want to set their traps in terms of their pressing game is going to be really important. On restarts, when the goalkeeper had the ball, for example, they could have been more aggressive in those moments.”

Asante also believes a shift in mindset is necessary from Sonia Bompastor’s side against Barcelona if Chelsea are to keep alive their hopes of winning a first Women’s Champions League title.

Barcelona have knocked Chelsea out at the semi-final stage in the last two seasons before going on to win the competition and they also defeated the Blues in the 2021 final.

“I think it was more psychological, from the Chelsea players,” Asante said. “The Barca players have experienced being in finals, winning finals. The Chelsea players who have played Barca before have the kind of hangover of defeat to them.

“They have to get over that mentality of, ‘we’ve been here before, we’ve played them, we’ve lost’, and need to go out with a bit more bravery.”

Asante also echoed Bompastor’s sentiment that, following their 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace on Wednesday night, Chelsea need to be more “ruthless” going forward if they are to overturn a 4-1 first-leg defeat.

Speaking about her other former team, Arsenal, with whom she won the Women’s Champions League in 2007, Asante was optimistic about the Gunners’ chances in the second leg of their semi-final against Lyon based on the side’s performance on Sunday and previous success.

After the 2-1 defeat at the Emirates, Arsenal manager Renee Slegers reflected on the positive psychological impact of the Gunners’ 5-1 victory over Lyon in the group stages of the competition in 2022, adding that it was important they had “done it before”.

Asante was encouraged by Arsenal’s performance in the first leg and noted the particular areas where the side need to focus in France.

“If you look at all the metrics, in terms of the possession stats, the final third entries, the chances created, from that psychological perspective, they know they’re doing the right things, and they’ve executed a good game plan,” Asante explained.

“The difficulty now is going to the fortress of Lyon where they haven’t lost any games this season at home domestically, and to try and overturn that. But they have to know they’ve beaten Lyon before as well in previous campaigns.

“I think they have a good chance. The ruthlessness is what they were missing, the clinicalness in the final third and stopping Lyon’s incredibly quick transitions in counter-attacking play, then they have a very good opportunity to progress.”