“I believe that Arsenal have what it takes to win the Champions League this year,” says a confident Laia Codina just two days after the club were thrashed in their opening game.
Jonas Eidevall and his team are under a huge amount of pressure to turn their disappointing starts in both the Barclays Women’s Super League and UEFA Women’s Champions League around. Arsenal are yet to win a WSL game since the season started four weeks ago. They’ve only managed to achieve two draws against Manchester City and Everton, while suffering a loss to Everton.
Despite securing qualification to the group stage of the Champions League, the Reds were torn apart by German side Bayern Munich in their opening game, fuelling an onslaught of criticism for their underperforming.
Speaking just one day before their WSL derby against Chelsea at Arsenal’s Sobha Realty Training Centre, defender Codina describes the fixture as a ‘must-win’.
“It’s our job and we are here to win,” she exclusively tells 90min. “We said before the start of the season that we think we can win the league, and we have to try and do our best. Everything is in our hands.”
However, Arsenal will be coming up against a confident Chelsea who are unbeaten in the league under new coach Sonia Bompastor, as well as riding high off their first Champions League victory.
“They always compete,” explains Codina. “They have very good players. I know Mayra Ramirez really well, and people like Lucy Bronze and Millie Bright are very experienced. It’s going to be a tough game, but this is why I came to Arsenal – I want to play tough games.”
When Arsenal take to the pitch at the Emirates Stadium, they would’ve only had two full days of recovery since their Champions League loss. Despite a strong start in Germany, Arsenal ended up losing 5-2 in an insufferable last thirteen minutes that saw Pernille Harder score a hat-trick.
Reflecting on the game, Codina says the team simply “weren’t that good” and she was “disappointed in the result”.
“I think we did have a good half, but in the second half they were better than us,” she continues. “I don’t think the result reflects how we were in the game, but there’s only one option [against Chelsea] and that’s to win.”
Codina moved to Arsenal last year after winning two Liga F titles with Barcelona, who she’d been signed to since she was 14 years old. The centre-back is also hungry for more success in north London after playing an instrumental role in helping Spain beat England in the final of the 2022 World Cup.
“I believe that Arsenal have what it takes to win the Champions League this year,” she says. “I’m really a believer of: ‘It doesn’t matter how it starts, it matters how it ends’. I see us in training every day and I see how hungry the players are. They really want to win titles and I think we have to believe that.
“We have Mariona [Caldentey] with us who has won the last two tournaments, and her mentality will help us a lot. The players are already feeling that.”
Codina’s national teammate and Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati spoke out earlier this year about the differences between Spain’s Liga F and England’s WSL. She revealed to BBC Sport that despite winning the World Cup, things “have not changed” for female players in Spain.
The Arsenal centre-back tells 90min that she agrees with Bonmati and that was one of the reasons she wanted to play football in England.
“There is a feeling here that the club and league trust women’s football,” she reveals. “You can feel that you are professional player and that you are doing your job properly. I’m grateful that I made the decision because the English leagues are growing a lot, which will only see more players joining.”
