Arsenal defender Leah Williamson says that playing in big stadiums and in-front of big crowds feels normal ahead of her side’s UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final second leg tie against VfL Wolfsburg at the Volkswagen Arena.
The Gunners will take on the German side at their men’s stadium in-front of around 10,000 fans. This comes off the back of the first leg being played out at the Emirates Stadium, that game ending 1-1.
When speaking to FAWSL Full-Time in the pre-match press conference, Williamson said that team’s experiences at the Emirates Stadium have helped their preparation and that playing in-front of large crowds is now very much the norm.
“You can only prepare for those games by getting experience before and obviously, we’ve had that luxury (playing at the Emirates) this season,” Williamson said. “We are comfortable there and it doesn’t de-rail us in any kind of way.
“A game which may have caused a little bit of energy around us playing in a big stadium is now something that we will just take in our stride.”
More than 118,000 fans attended Wednesday’s UEFA Women’s Champions League ties and with this evening’s games also set to attract healthy crowds, Williamson went on to admit that it is great to be playing in-front of large audiences.
She added “Obviously, those things (big crowds) are becoming a little more normal to us now and a little more frequent as well which is the way that we want the game to be going.
“For us, we work really hard and we want to enjoy those days as much as everybody does when they come and watch. It’s nice to play in-front of a big crowd, especially when you can put on a performance.”
The UEFA Women’s Champions League quarter-final second leg tie between VfL Wolfsburg and Arsenal is scheduled to kick-off at 5.45pm this evening.