**Arsenal head coach Renée Slegers insists ‘everything is different’ this season as the Gunners continue their Champions League title defence.**
Arsenal will play in a [UEFA Champions League](https://thehalfwayline.com/category/cup-competitions/uefa-womens-champions-league/) semi-final for the third time in just four years as they look retain the trophy after last years extraordinary triumph. Faced with the same opposition in last year’s semi-final. Arsenal ran out 5-3 winners across both legs after a remarkable 4-1 victory away from home to recover from the home defeat. Arsenal and Slegers will be looking to replicate another one of those performances and progress into back-to-back finals. However, the Gunner’s head coach was clear to stress that past encounters will have limited bearings on Sunday’s tie.
“Last year was last year, and this year is this year”, Slegers emphasised. “The setup of the competition has changed, and a lot of things have also changed since then. I think we still have the same identity and style of playing. It’s not by coincidence, or chance by we’re in the exact same position again, the same semi-final, playing each other. But with that being said, that was last year and now everything is different.
“We have to earn it all over again. It was fantastic, what we did and the way we did it, but it starts all over again and we start from zero and it’s going to be a different game.”
The Arsenal head coach also focused on the mental resilience that her side showed this time last year to overcome the deficit and what the main things they learned from those fixtures.
“I think what we’ve shown last year, both against Real Madrid and Lyon, was that we could turn it around when we needed to.
“So we showed some really strong mental resilience. I think this year, for example, if you look at the Chelsea games, the quarter-finals, it was the other way around. So it’s both very challenging. It is going to be challenging for both teams trying to win, getting to the final across two legs. It’s going to be challenging, but we embrace the challenge. We look forward to it”.
**Renée Slegers expecting an ‘explosive’ Lyon side**
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The Gunners coach praised this weekend’s opposition, highlighting their explosive starts and extreme power as points to watch out for.
“We know the extreme power that they possess,” Slegers said. “They’re very explosive, they’re very front-footed, so they’ll come at you quickly. I think we’re aware of that. So, we face that three times now in a year, but we have to do it all over again. And I think absolutely there’s been learnings from those three games.
“If I look at the team back then, the team in, I think it was October, when we played Lyon and the team where we are now, I think we have so many tools that we’re possessing at the moment. I think it’s just two very different styles going against each other.”
Having gotten over the semi-final hurdle last year, Slegers was asked whether this shifts the mindset for her and her team and can in some ways make it an easier game to approach this time around.
“I think what we’re really good at is being in the here and now and trying to impact the here and now as much as we can as individuals and then all together”, the head coach explained. “I think that was a big part of achieving what we achieved. Being humble and respectful of opponents. Sometimes with the unknown and sometimes with the known. Dealing with those moments. I think you’re constantly learning”.
The Arsenal head coach also didn’t shy away from her own self reflections on how she improve and build on last year’s success.
“I think definitely in my role I have some clear reflections on what things work well with the team, what things haven’t worked well so those I can just bin and we don’t do them again – We just have to find the right way in the right moment and I think that’s where we are now as a group, which is great”.
**Slegers says ‘it’s always sad to see people go’ as Manuela Zinsberger announces Arsenal departure**
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Goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger announced after seven years at the club, she would be leaving at the end of the season upon the expiration of her contract. Since she joined from Bayern Munich in 2019, she has made 143 appearances for the Arsenal, keeping 51 clean sheets. When asked about her departure, Slegers spoke about how it’s always hard to see players leave and what a pivotal role she has played both on and off the pitch.
“Of course, it’s always sad to see people go,” the head coach said. “It’s part of how things are being run in the football world with the type of contracts. So she’s meant so much for this club.
“I’ve only spent about three years working with her, I think. But she’s been here so much longer than me. And I think she’s been a big part of the achievements on the pitch, but definitely also everything that’s been achieved off the pitch. With the group, how she’s always supportive, how she brings so much energy to the group in training. Very vocal, always looking to lead the team, instruct the team, feed the team back. So, it was a loss for us to lose her at the start of the season. So she’ll be hopefully in a really good place for the future for herself. But yeah, it’s always sad to see people go”.
**“It feels like home here” a jubilant Stina Blackstenius says as she commits her future to Arsenal**
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The Swedish international put pen to paper on a new two-year contract this week, as she joined expressed her delight in continuing on at Arsenal.
“It means so much and I am so happy to stay with Arsenal. I have been here for quite a long time now and it is a really special club with a really good group of players and staff,” Blackstenius said. “I have enjoyed being here since the first day I came here, it’s a challenge being here. I like being surrounded by so many good players, it’s a great league, we play in the Champions League, it’s a great environment, playing at the Emirates. All of it, there are so many factors. Most of all it feels like home here”.
Blackstenius, who scored the pivotal goal in last year’s 1-0 victory against Barcelona in the final, spoke about how she has improved her overall game this season and how she continues to push herself.
“‘I have always wanted to get better and better as a player and working hard to play as much as I can but also there have been parts of my game I have tried to focus more on. I want to be a player that stretches the line but also working hard on my hold up play and to be a better player in that way and make my game a bit bigger. I have tried to focus on that.”
The first leg of the semi-final kicks off at 3:30pm BST, on 26th April, with it being shown live on the BBC.