Page 3 - Women's Soccer Scene Issue No.30 2022-23

England have been dealt a huge blow ahead of the World Cup with the news that captain Leah
Williamson will miss the tournament with a serious knee injury.
Williamson went off injured during Arsenal’s recent Barclays WSL match against
Manchester United and the Arsenal website confirmed that news that everyone was fearing,
when they released the following statement:
“We can confirm that Leah Williamson suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in
our Barclays Women’s Super League match against Manchester United on Wednesday night.
“Leah was substituted in the first half of the game at Leigh Sports Village and underwent
further assessment on Thursday to determine the extent of the injury.
“Leah will now begin a period of rehabilitation and is set for an extended spell on the
sidelines. She will undergo surgery in due course.
“Everyone at Arsenal will be supporting Leah closely throughout the journey ahead and
we would ask that her privacy is respected at this time.”
With the news that Beth Mead is also ruled out of the tournament in July, whilst Millie
Bright is currently injured and Fran Kirby has not played for the last few months, the news that
Lucy Bronze has undergone knee surgery this week will be more worrying news for Sarina
Wiegman as she puts together her squad.
The injury is also another savage blow for Arsenal as they continue to chase for the
Barclays WSL title and the UEFA Champions League, with Williamson now the latest star
player to be missing for the rest of the season along with Mead, Kim Little and Vivienne
Miedema.

Chelsea will have to wait another year to realise their dream of winning the UEFA Women’c
Champions League after they went out in the semi finals this time around at the hands of
Barcelona, despite a great effort at the Spotify Camp Nou in the second leg.
The damage was inflicted in the first leg, when Barcelona took a 1-0 lead away from
Stamford Bridge, Caroline Graham Hansen scoring the only goal of the game in the fourth
minute.
This left Chelsea needing to win against the former winners in the second leg at the famous
stadium and they were still in the tie with the scoreline goalless at half time. However on 63
minutes it was Hansen - so often the nemesis of English teams in recent years - who was to
strike again after being set up Aitana Bonmati.
Guro Reiten, who has had an outstanding tournament for Chelsea, gave her side hope
when she levelled the scores on the night four minutes later. Chelsea brought on Pernille Harder
and Lauren James in an attempt to score a second but it was not to be and Barcelona were able
to close out the game in the last twenty minutes and book their place in the Final once again.
This means that Arsenal are the last surviving WSL team in the competition and their
injury hit side has given themselves a fighting chance in the second leg by coming from behind
to draw 2-2 with VfL Wolfsburg at the Wolfsburg Arena.
The Gunners travelled to Germany knowing that a number of key players will be missing
for the rest of the season and things did not look good when Ewa Pajor and Sveindis Jonsdottir
put Wolfsburg two goals ahead inside the opening 24 minutes. However, Rafaelle Souza
brought Arsenal back into the tie on the stroke of half time and Stina Blackstenius gave them
one of the best results in their history with an equaliser midway through the second half.
The second leg will be at the Emirates Stadium on Monday (5.45pm kick off) and a win
would see Arsenal meeting Barcelona in the Final in Eindhoven on Saturday 3rd June. A hard
task will await them though.
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