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Alessia Russo scored all three goals as Arsenal Women beat Benfica 3-0 in the Champions League at Meadow Park on Wednesday night.
Renée Slegers made three changes from Saturday's north London derby win, so Emily Fox, Lisa Baum and Leah Williamson dropped to the bench. Géraldine Reuteler and Élisa De Almeida made their first Arsenal starts, De Almeida at centre-back and Reuteler on the right, though reports differ on her exact role, in front of Ona Batlle. Russo wore the armband and played behind Olivia Smith, and she settled the game on 39 minutes. Caitlin Foord turned and slipped the ball inside to her, so Russo struck it low from the corner of the area into the far side of the net. That goal on Wednesday drew her level with Fran Kirby's 21, the most by an English player in the competition.
Arsenal had a chance on 65 minutes and then doubled the lead from a corner. Catley's delivery dropped into the six-yard box and Russo headed it down, so the ball bounced off the turf and over Pauels in the Benfica goal. That header made her the outright record scorer among English players in the Champions League on Wednesday night. On 76 minutes Georgia Stanway sent Foord through and she was brought down in the box. Pauels went the wrong way as Russo smashed the penalty high into the net. It was her first Champions League hat-trick, and it left her on 23 goals in 32 games in the competition by Wednesday's final whistle. Slegers had already sent on Williamson, Kim Little and Fox after 70 or 71 minutes. They replaced De Almeida, Kyra Cooney-Cross and Taylor Hinds, so Fox went in at left-back and Batlle stayed on the right. Baum later came on for Reuteler, and Stina Blackstenus replaced Smith in the 83rd or 86th minute. Foord had a goal ruled out for offside in stoppage time on her 50th Champions League appearance for Arsenal, and VAR didn't overturn the flag.
Wednesday's result was also the first time this season they'd won two games in a row. Barcelona and Lyon come next in Europe, so the 3-0 win counts for plenty because Arsenal go into the hardest stretch of the league phase with points already banked.
Slegers called Russo "fantastic" and went further. "She was so good. She's one of the leaders of our team and she does it her way," she said. On Reuteler she said "Geraldine has been training really well and we needed that presence in that position," and she added that both debutants "did really well for us". Slegers said Smith was really dangerous in and around the box, and the shape is worth keeping because Russo still scored three. "We need to do it again at a weekend against Aston Villa," Slegers said, and that game is at the Emirates on Sunday.
Over to the men's team, Arsenal are set to appeal against the straight red card Max Dowman was shown late in Tuesday's Carabao Cup exit at Fleetwood Town. He was sent off for violent conduct with five minutes left, kicking out at Fleetwood's Harrison Neal after the midfielder went into him with a two-footed challenge on the touchline. If the decision stands, the three-game ban rules him out of Liverpool on Sunday, the home game against Hull and the trip to Newcastle after the international break. He's still available for Slavia Prague next week. The appeal deserves to succeed because Neal's challenge was the more dangerous act, while the knee Dowman caught him with was nowhere near the force the charge implies. Reacting at all was naive from a player who has now become the youngest to be sent off in a League Cup match, at 16 years and 300 days. The one bright spot was Ceadach O'Neill, 18, whose competitive senior debut on the left wing included the cross in the build-up to Viktor Gyökeres' equaliser before he was withdrawn in the second half.
In the academy, Arsenal's under-21s beat AFC Wimbledon 2-1.
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