Leah Williamson blunder gifts Paris FC a point as Arsenal’s struggles continue

Renée Slegers did not attend the post‑match press conference, the manager understood to have been too furious after Arsenal threw away a two-goal lead in their draw with Paris FC on Wednesday night.

The assistant coach Aaron D’Antino stepped in to speak to the media instead of Slegers, after a disastrous mix-up between the goalkeeper Misa Rodríguez and the centre-back Leah Williamson gifted Paris FC a penalty that Maeline Mendy converted to deny Arsenal all three points in the Champions League.

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“The most frustrating part is how much we are working behind the scenes to try and turn this around, and it is just not going our way at the moment,” D’Antino said.

Alessia Russo and Georgia Stanway had given the Gunners a two-goal lead but Clara Mateo pulled one back before Williamson handled the ball after the referee deemed play to have restarted from a goal-kick when Rodríguez passed it to her.

D’Antino said: “If we’re looking at what we can control, it’s just passing the ball to Leah. From what I remember seeing, the ball was still rolling and she was moving it to Leah for her to take the goal-kicks as we normally do. So maybe the learning in that is how we get the ball to Leah, so we don’t put ourselves in that situation. But as far as we’re concerned, that’s not a penalty … we haven’t taken a goal-kick, there’s no advantage gained by Leah stopping the ball.”

It has been a tough start to the season for Arsenal, who are up against it in the title race with only five points from their opening four games, and the closing stages of the match in Paris delivered another gut punch.

Barcelona continued their emphatic start to their title defence by brushing aside Roma 6-0 in the Italian capital. Caroline Graham Hansen got Barça off the mark in Rome inside 20 minutes. A Shukurat Oladipo own goal put them two up before the break and Clàudia Pina (pictured) made the points safe just after, before Graham Hansen and Pina both got their second goals and Ewa Pajor put the cherry on the cake late on.

Bayern Munich, who gave up a two-goal lead last week to draw with Manchester City, were in danger of behind held again at Benfica, but won 3-0 thanks to three goals from in the last 16 minutes from Klara Bühl, Pernille Harder and Franziska Kett.

Juventus downed Häcken 3-0 in Sweden to make up for last Tuesday’s defeat by Benfica. The Spanish World Cup winner Alba Redondo scored again, making it three goals in as many games and seven in 12 in all competitions since joining from Real Madrid. AFP

Paris FC had promised another tricky test, with teams that are happy to concede possession frustrating an Arsenal side that just cannot seem to find their way through low blocks. Chelsea had read that script on Sunday: they were organised at the back and punished Arsenal’s profligacy and failure to make their early dominance count.

At the Stade Jean-Bouin, which sits in the shadow of Paris Saint-Germain’s Parc des Princes, the story was familiar. As a result, it was less a wave of relief that swept through the pocket of travelling Arsenal fans and the players when their first goal went in and more a tsunami. It had looked as if Arsenal’s hesitancy had cost them a possible opening again when Stanway prodded the ball towards Russo but the England forward took several touches to create the space to shoot before firing her low effort in.

With the home team forced to come out more, that it took only five minutes after the restart for Arsenal to double their lead was no surprise. It was a stylish finish from Stanway that gave Arsenal breathing space, the midfielder pushed Emily Fox’s cross forward a little with her chest before lashing a volley in from close range.

However, only 22 minutes of comfort followed, before the team that inflicted a shock win on penalties to knock Arsenal out of qualifying in 2023 pulled the goal back that would test the Gunners’ resolve.

It was a mix-up between the centre-backs Lotte Wubben-Moy and Williamson that delivered the goal. The pair both moved to close down Evelyne Viens and the Canadian forward slipped the ball wide to Clara Mateo who raced free, rounded Rodríguez and slotted into the empty net.

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It was tense as the clock ticked down. Paris posed a threat throughout, but the leveller followed the most calamitous of mistakes by Arsenal. Rodríguez collected the ball for a goal-kick, rolled it on to the pitch and then passed it to Williamson who bent and stopped the ball with her hand. The referee’s whistle went and she pointed to the spot, with Rodríguez deemed to have taken the goal-kick while Williamson clearly assumed she was being given the ball to take it. VAR did not intervene and Mendy converted from the spot, driving powerfully into the bottom corner.

It was a bruising end to another bruising game for Arsenal, who really need some luck to go their way to lift the increasing pressure. Meanwhile, Slegers’s decision to avoid talking after the game will have only ramped that pressure up further ahead of a must-win game against league leaders Manchester City on Sunday.