Arsenal star Beth Mead admitted her side had endured a “rollercoaster” league phase in the UEFA Women’s Champions League but said they were now in a good position as they aim to replicate last year’s triumph.
The defending champions closed out the league phase on Wednesday with 3-0 victory at OH Leuven. While it was not enough to secure direct qualification into the Champions League quarterfinals with a place in the top four, a fifth-place finish means Arsenal get a more favorable seeding for the playoffs in February.
The draw will take place on Thursday, with Arsenal set to take on either Spanish side Atlético Madrid or face a rematch against Leuven, who still progressed to the playoffs with a 12th-placed finish.
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That represents a measure of success after Renée Slegers’ side began the league phase with two defeats in their first three games — against OL Lyonnes and Bayern Munich.
“Yeah, we’ve had a little bit of a rollercoaster,” Mead told Disney+. “We’ve done that before in the Champions League and it worked out well so maybe we’ll just try and replicate that one.
“But yeah, no, not an ideal start for us, but I think we’ve ended this part of the block really well in the Champions League and put ourselves in a very good position.”
Arsenal, who beat Barcelona to win the Women’s Champions League for the first time last season, cruised past Leuven in Belgium with Mead and Olivia Smith hitting the target before Saar Janssen added an own goal.
“We know that Leuven are a really hard team to break down so it was nice to get two goals in the first half,” Mead added.
“I thought we played really well and created a lot of different chances. Maybe we could have been a little more clinical, but we’re happy to get three goals.
“In a game like this you get a lot of touches on the ball and for me individually I love doing that as a player. Also the team loves being on the ball, so it was a nice game to be a part of.
“I was happy with my own performance. There were some things I was frustrated with, you could probably see that I was. But I’m happy to get the goal, happy to be playing well and happy to get the win.”
Information from PA was used in this report.