One Step Further

December 09, 2025

Emirates Stadium, London

Second in the Vrouwen Eredivisie, Twente arrived in London with the assurance of a side that has mastered its domestic theatre: seven wins and a draw from eight matches, level with Ajax and still holding a game in hand. Yet their European campaign has exposed a more fragile underbelly. Draws against Chelsea and Benfica and defeats to OH Leuven and Atlético Madrid have reminded the Netherlands’ most decorated women’s club that the continental stage can be unforgiving.

This meeting marked a trio of firsts: our first encounter with FC Twente in the Champions League, our first against any Dutch opponent, and Renée Slegers’ first as a Dutch manager facing a compatriot club in the competition. Arsenal began as if intent on inscribing their dominance from the opening whistle. Every pass landed; the rhythm flowed through the right flank. Within five minutes, Taylor Hinds had slipped the ball into Mariona Caldentey, whose right-footed strike curled just wide of the top corner. A second attempt drew a block; Mead’s volleyed follow-up was headed off the line.

The pressure mounted. Russo fed Mead, Mead fed danger, and when the ball broke to Russo again she carved through the defence, struck—with a slight deflection—and delivered the opener.

Twente’s resistance was erratic, their discipline fraying. Smith owned the left flank, absorbing three heavy challenges in the space of twenty minutes—none punished. Only in the 27th minute did Twente muster a threat, Sophie Proost lifting a header over the bar. Arsenal responded with another wave: Caldentey blocked, Mead tormenting the back line, Russo nodding McCabe’s inswinging corner just wide. We reached the interval deservedly ahead.

The second half brought more siege than contest. Wooben-Boy split lines from deep, McCabe drilled a free-kick at the near post, Cooney-Cross fired over, Russo struck the crossbar. Fouls accumulated; cards did not. Still the second goal refused to fall.

Mead and Russo continued to interlock with growing menace. One surged, then the other; the closest came in the 79th minute, when Russo rose above the pack and thundered a header against the crossbar. Arsenal advanced, harried, pressed, but the final touch remained just beyond reach. Yet when the final whistle cut through the evening. Arsenal had endured, controlled, and survived. One step further along the narrow path: nine points from fifteen. A place in the knockout phase, secured.

Arsenal 1–0 Twente

(B. Mead 10’)