Arsenal drags draw out of Champions League semifinal at Wolfsburg

Arsenal women’s soccer players edged out a draw in their first game with VfL Wolfsburg in the Champions League semifinals. The Englishmen, without all the heavily injured top players Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead and Leah Williamson, overturned a 2-0 deficit in Germany: 2-2.

Wolfsburg, with Dominique Janssen, Jill Roord and Lynn Wilms in the starting lineup, started excellently. The two-time CL winner dominated before halftime and soon Ewa Pajor opened the scoring after a nice pass from Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir, who moments later benefited herself from a huge mistake by Arsenal defender Rafaelle.

The blundering Brazilian retaliated by heading Arsenal, who captured the cup in 2007, to 2-1 just before halftime. After halftime, Stina Blackstenius made it 2-2 on a pass from Victoria Pelova, the Dutch international on the London side. Roord, who was celebrating her 26th birthday, came close to making it 3-2.

FC Barcelona started Saturday’s two-leg match with Chelsea well. The team from Catalonia, winner of the 2021 Champions League, triumphed 1-0 at Stamford Bridge.

The final will be played the first weekend of June at the Philips Stadium in Eindhoven.