Katie McCabe reflects on the impact of Arsenal losing Kim Little & Leah Williamson
By Emily Keogh
Arsenal were captained by Katie McCabe in their 2-2 comeback draw against Wolfsburg in the first leg of the Women’s Champions League semi-final on Sunday, taking over the armband following recent season-ending injuries to skipper Kim Little and vice-captain Leah Williamson.
After going 2-0 down – the second Wolfsburg goal was a self-inflicted mistake – Arsenal managed to claw their way back into the tie to level the aggregate score ahead of facing the two-time former champions at the Emirates Stadium for the second leg next Monday.
The Gunners have been up against it so many times this season, having already been without Beth Mead and Vivianne Miedema since before Christmas. But they found a way again. Now, instead of Wolfsburg being out of sight, as they had threatened, everything is still to play for.
“We are still in it,” McCabe said after the first leg. “We knew from last season this is a difficult place to come to. They have got fantastic support and they are a fantastic team so for us to have that resilience and show a gutsy performance to comeback and make it 2-2, I am really proud of that.
“It’s all to play for at the Emirates next week,” she added.
Even beyond Mead, Miedema, Little and Williamson, the latter suffering an ACL injury in the narrow defeat to Manchester United just days earlier, Arsenal had a further depleted side without Caitlin Foord and Lina Hurtig. However, despite the injury crisis, it seemingly brought the players closer together, giving the rest of the squad something to fight for.
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“To lose our captain and vice-captain in the space of a couple of days hurt us, but also it brings us together,” McCabe explained. “We are out there, we are running for each other, and we are doing it for the girls back home as well.
“They are a massive part of this Champions League journey and we just have to make sure we finish it off in the best way possible. It just shows how together we are as a team and how much we want this for each other. I think we showed that tonight.”
Something that McCabe also believed spurred on the side after conceding two early goals was the travelling support: “The fans are everything. We hear them, we feel them. They give us energy, especially when went 2-0 down, they were still chanting away and singing and cheering us.
“What the Emirates will do for us next week will be unbelievable. We love how our supporters travel all around Europe to support us. We can see our pool of supporters growing, especially in those away games. We want people to come and watch us. We have shown that we can get big support and big crowds at the Emirates. Next week will be a massive game, so I wouldn’t want to miss it if I was a fan.”
Arsenal are expecting more than 45,000 fans for the game at the Emirates, their eighth game at the stadium so far this season – every home Champions League game has been played there.