We continued our unassailable run of form with an impressive victory over Bayern Munich to top the group in the UEFA Women's Champions League.
Interim head coach Renée Slegers was delighted by the result, praising the entire squad and our terrific supporters on a blustery night at Meadow Park.
_Here is everything she had to say:_
**on the performance and result...**
We knew it was going to be a tough game, Bayern Munich is a very good team, as a team, but also the individual qualities that they have and set pieces, obviously, they hurt us in the away game. Very good side, it was a game with a lot of different phases and we were aware of that and we’re going to have to control different phases of the game and try to, even without the ball, try to dictate and dominate. So I think the girls were superb in staying calm and composed in all phases of the game and kept on believing.
**on our players' mentality ahead of the match...**
Looking at the girls before the game, they were very composed, energetic and just looking forward to the challenge because we had already qualified for the quarter-finals but everyone was eager to try and beat Bayern and without any pressure, trying to go out and play the Arsenal way and making that way win games. We didn’t play the Arsenal way for as many minutes as we would’ve wanted to but to be honest the weather conditions were quite hard to deal with today.
**on Mariona Caldentey...**
She’s a fantastic player, she works so hard. But then showing this mental resilience as well. It just says everything about who Mariona is as a player but again I want to credit the whole team because this is really really again, a team performance.
**on why we've been so successful since October...**
Trying to frame the challenges in a good way and the players work on that. The players have been working really hard in training and their preparations, they’ve been working really hard with their recovery because there’s been a lot of travelling and short turnarounds, so they’ve been very professional.
**on the excellent atmosphere from our supporters...**
It’s a very intimate place here, you feel very close to the supporters, you can almost hear them talking, you can hear all the songs and I think the players were really connecting with them as well and they could really feel it. I think we had phases in the game where we struggled a little bit and Bayern had a bit more of the ball but then they kept us going through but then we clear the ball and go forward, those small things that you can reinforce that and hear the crowd and it really helps the players go forward and keep believing.
**on taking this momentum into the new year...**
I think the players are very eager as well. They need a break, they need to recharge physically and mentally, but then they set their minds on it and want to keep going.
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