Rain and Mud

March 18, 2025
Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium, Madrid

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Arsenal’s return to Europe under Renée Slegers was meant to signal renewal: a campaign led by a commander forged within Jonas Eidevall’s own ranks. But Madrid had other plans.

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Arsenal had just been knocked out of the FA Cup, yet immediately reinvented themselves with a hard-fought, defiant league victory over Everton. In Europe, they carried an extra charge. Something in them had shifted since that revenge win over Bayern in the UWCL: focus sharpened, steel rediscovered, belief rekindled.

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Missing Wubben-Moy and Van Domselaar, and with Codina still short of fitness, the Gunners faced a disciplined Real Madrid although just having had a heavy defeat to Barcelona. Caroline Weir and Linda Caicedo led the charge while captain Olga Carmona, scorer of Spain’s World Cup-winning goal, anchored the defence. For ex-Barcelona players Caldentey and Codina, now in red and white, this was more than a quarter-final — it was a reckoning.

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It began under rain — the kind that drags at the boots and presses on the lungs. Then, chaos. The waterlogged pitch turned every pass into a wager, every touch into a test of nerve. Arsenal’s rhythm faltered early. Russo worked deep, holding the line; Blackstenius searched for space in behind, but nothing took shape. Then, in the 22nd minute, Weir found Caicedo with a pass like a blade through fog. The Ecuadorian slipped past Emily Fox and slid the ball beyond Zinsberger. One strike — cold, clinical — and the tone was set.

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Slegers adjusted at the break, sending on Foord and Kelly to charge the flanks. Arsenal emerged transformed, pressing with hunger, moving the ball in quick, purposeful arcs across the drenched field. For a time, it seemed the equaliser was inevitable. Kelly was brought down in the box — no whistle. Foord’s footwork carved through Madrid’s back line, but each cross met only mud and white shirts.

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Madrid absorbed the storm. In the 82nd, they struck again. A counter, simple and swift — Athenea del Castillo driving low past Zinsberger’s glove. 2–0. The score of a first battle lost, not a war decided.

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Catley was blunt after the whistle, called it “a battle in a swamp,” and vowed that the Emirates would see a different side: “We score two, it’s even again.” Slegers agreed. They ignored the background noise swirling around the club — the doubts, the dismissals, the taking-for-granted. 

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Only one objective: to win.

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Real Madrid 2 – 0 Arsenal
(L. Caicedo ‘22, A. Del Castillo ‘82)