Arsenal captain Kim Little says that her side did not retain the ball well enough in the final third as they exited this season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League with a 3-1 aggregate defeat to VfL Wolfsburg.
The Gunners went into this evening’s quarter-final second leg tie level with the German side but a 2-0 defeat on the night saw Jonas Eidevall’s side crash out.
When speaking in the post-match press conference, Arsenal captain Little said that the team’s poor ball retention in the final third cost them over the two legs.
“I think we played really well at times in both legs but not for long enough,” Little said. “Across the two legs, we created chances but we weren’t clinical enough and in the key moments, we didn’t retain the ball well enough, especially in our attacking third so they countered a lot. That’s definitely one thing on reflection from these games, at this level it has to be much better from us.”
Despite Arsenal exiting the competition, Little said that she can see an improvement in her side’s performances in Europe and she is confident of further growth.
She said “Obviously, it’s incredibly disappointing. I think we’ve progressed a lot since the last time we were at this stage against PSG and I think that we have played a lot better in the games but we can see that we have got a bit more to go to be able to compete and win it or compete in the latter stages of the Champions League.
“As players and as a team, we will go away and do everything that we can to make sure that when we get back to this stage again, which will happen, we can go further.”
Arsenal will now return to domestic action with a trip to Leicester City up next on Sunday.
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