CHLOE KELLY, Stina Blackstenius and Alessia Russo came in clutch for Arsenal once again as the Gunners took full control of their Champions League quarter-final against Chelsea.
The trio – all known for scoring crucial goals in major European finals – struck to give Arsenal a 3-1 lead going into the second leg at Stamford Bridge.
But the highlight came from Lauren James, who kept Chelsea in it with a goal of the season contender.
Blackstenius broke the deadlock midway through the first half with a brilliant header into the bottom-left corner from a pinpoint Katie McCabe free kick.
Kelly then followed that up 10 minutes later with a curled effort into the bottom-right from around 25 yards out.
Chelsea thought they had narrowed the gap on the brink of half-time when a close-range header from Veerle Buurman bounced over the line.
But it was controversially disallowed by referee Alina Pesu for a push on Laia Codina before VAR confirmed the decision.
The decision seemed soft as the push seemed very slight on the defender.
The Blues eventually did get one back in the 66th minute thanks to a stunning effort from James.
The Lioness controlled Beth Mead’s attempted clearance around 30 yards out before firing her shot as far into the top-left corner as it could go.
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But Arsenal quickly restored their two-goal margin thanks to a low-driven strike from Russo
In doing so, the striker set a new record for the most goals scored by an English player in a single European campaign with her eighth.
Speaking about the achievement, she told the BBC: “I didn’t know that!
“Hopefully, more goals and more wins in this competition.”
Arsenal head coach Renee Slegers insisted after the match that she iwas pleased with the progress her side has made in the tie.
She said: “For half-time (of the qurter-final) I’m very happy for the players because there was a lot of grittiness.”
“There’s a lot of things I’m happy with but we always stay critical because it’s a very tight game.
“It’s all about mentality, our mindset.”
Russo added: “We wanted to stay calm.
“We knew there were things we needed to tighten up on.
“2-0 is really tough and the next goal is really important, we wanted to remain calm in and around our box and then LJ [Lauren James] scored an incredible goal and it was about getting momentum back in to the game.
“We want to be a bit more dominant on the ball at times but overall it was a good night.”
The record breaking striker is already looking to what can be improved for the visit to Stamford Bridge.
She said: “We want to be better on the ball. We definitely know that with two goals it can change in an instant. It is nowhere near done.
“We’ll have to prepare really well and see what we can improve on from this game.
“They came out really well and we’ll need to settle that. We know the tie is nowhere near done.”
Chelsea have a lot of work to do if they are to comeback and earn progress to the next round.
Manager Sonia Bompastor could only slam the officials for disallowing Buurman’s goal.
She said: “Frustrated about the result. I’m really proud of my players. I think tonight’s performance was a good performance.
“We created enough to be in a better place in terms of the result.
“About the officials, it’s really frustrating… To be honest, it’s not good enough. We really need to find solutions.
“For sure, the first goal is a goal.”
Speaking to the BBC, she continued: “It was not good enough. When you are playing quarter-final of the Champions League you need to have the best referees.
“Especially when you have the VAR. I think it’s crazy the goals we got disallowed were actually good goals.
“The referee whistled before the VAR checked the decision. When you know the VAR is there, allow the goal and if the goal is not allowed because there is a fault you just disallow the goal. So I think it was not good enough.
“Maybe people will think I am saying that because I am a bad loser and we lost the game.
“Credit to Arsenal, they won the game and don’t worry about that, that’s not my main concern, but at this level it has to be a lot better.”
