Arsenal’s two goals against OL Lyonnes were chaotic, but also related to the plan

But then came the free kick. There’s the same pattern here. Caldentey again raised her right arm and sidefooted a ball into space at the near post.

Arsenal can’t take credit for the ball actually ending up in the net, but it seems like there was, at least, some kind of plan.

So who came up with it?

Before the game, Renee Slegers mentioned that OL Lyonnes were “a threat from set pieces”, and that aerial power is obvious when they’re defending as well as attacking. Arsenal have a habit of playing those low passes from set pieces against aerially dominant sides — they scored a similar type of goal against Sporting CP earlier this season. Afterwards, Slegers insisted the somewhat strange goals were not all about luck.

“The first goal is hard for a goalkeeper because the ball goes in front (of her) and has runners (coming across), so it’s hard to see, and puts the opposition off guard,” she said. “And the second goal is a really good moment in the press that we wanted to create. That is football. Sometimes you score the most brilliant goals — like Mariona away in OL Lyonnes last year — but these types of goals are also goals in football.”

“We play what we see,” Caldentey said after the game. “Someone is always making that run, so if it’s Stina or someone else, someone will always be there to tap it in. If not, it’s still difficult to defend against.”

“We have a clear plan; set pieces are different, a set situation, so we go into a game with clear plans and then the players can choose and recognise what the best option is. Chris (Bradley, set-piece coach) does a great job. Then the players are empowered to make those decisions.”

Overall, Arsenal deserved their first-leg advantage on the balance of play. They started the game strongly, with the fit-again Williamson firing some excellent forward passes into the feet of Blackstenius and Alessia Russo. OL Lyonnes’ opener, scored by Jule Brand, was rather against the run of play and knocked Arsenal off their stride for the rest of the first half. But a renewed sense of purpose and energy high up the pitch meant Arsenal dominated the second half, completing the turnaround.

Slegers spent the final few minutes of the game summoning all her tallest players from the bench, in order to guard against a OL Lyonnes aerial bombardment that never quite arrived.

Arsenal will head to France next weekend with a one-goal lead, having won last year’s semi-final second leg at OL Lyonnes in convincing fashion, 4-1, after trailing by a goal from the first leg. Against an OL Lyonnes side who need to dominate, Arsenal will need to be up for a proper challenge — Slegers described OL Lyonnes as the most physical side she has encountered.

But Arsenal will try to play their own game, and those low set pieces symbolise something wider. Arsenal fundamentally believe in their ability to outplay opponents in a technical sense even if, ultimately, the two crucial goals here were as scrappy as they come.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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