Mariona Caldentey (left) celebrates with teammates after scoring the winning penalty against Bayern Munich.Photograph: Catherine Ivill/AMA/Getty Images
A late Mariona Caldentey penalty powered Arsenal to the top of Group C in the Champions League at Bayern Munich’s expense after a Magda Eriksson double looked to have secured a draw for the visitors.
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With the former Chelsea forward Pernille Harder having been the scourge of the Gunners in Munich, this time it was her partner and teammate, the former Chelsea defender Eriksson, that would trouble Arsenal. First, the centre-back cancelled out a Bayern Munich own goal, then she gave the visiting side the lead before Alessia Russo provided an equaliser and Caldentey fired in from the spot.
Full-back turned centre-back The defender Steph Catley had described the reverse fixture, when a 13-minute hat-trick from Harder condemned Arsenal to a 5-2 loss, as a “big wake-up call”.
At Borehamwood, Uefa having granted special dispensation for the Gunners to move the game from the Emirates to make way for the men’s League Cup quarter-final against Crystal Palace, there was a chance to show how far they have come since that humiliation. That loss was sandwiched between a 0-0 draw with Everton and a crushing 2-1 loss to Chelsea in the WSL, with Jonas Eidevall’s resignation coming days later.
Since then, under interim manager Renée Slegers, Arsenal are unbeaten and look to have their mojo back, conceding just four goals while scoring 28.
The only blip on Slegers’ CV is a 1-1 draw with Manchester United. Bayern would offer her sternest test and, with both teams having secured their passage to the quarter- finals, only top spot in Group C was up for grabs.
Bayern were blistering out of the blocks in front of a Christmas-ready crowd (brass band, Santa hats and carols aplenty), Linda Dallmann forcing a save from Daphne van Domselaar inside four minutes. Arsenal settled and took the lead through a Kyra Cooney-Cross corner, Caitlin Foord heading it goalwards and 20-year-old goalkeeper Ena Mahmutovic parrying it towards her own net and Glodis Viggósdóttir helping it over the line.
It was an even contest in the steady rain, and the visitors equalised just before half time, Van Domselaar’s fine save with her foot putting the ball out for a corner that was sent in, met by Georgia Stanway at the back post, and turned in by the former Chelsea defender Eriksson.
Moments after Arsenal spurned a golden chance to take the lead, Stina Blackstenius rounding Mahmutovic before the goalkeeper recovered to deny her, they were behind, a short corner sent forward and nodded in by their old foe Eriksson. Bayern’s lead was short-lived though, another corner leading to a goal, this time for Russo who side-footed in at the back post for her 10th in 11 games.
There will be frustration at the goals conceded, with Slegers’ having specifically highlighted conceding from set-pieces as “something we want to do better” against Bayern, but it mattered little. Another corner was met by Caldentey on the edge of the box and her shot was quickly adjudged to have come off the hand of Tuva Hansen. The Spanish forward stepped up and converted from the spot in front of a jubilant North Bank.
Vengeance complete and Slegers reaches the winter break with an unbeaten record intact, top spot in the Champions League secured and the fans fully on side, the final line in the chorus of Last Christmas changed to “I’ll give it to Renée Slegers” ringing around Meadow Park.