Arsenal turn tables on Bayern to reach Women’s Champions League last four

The performance was fluid, controlled and blistering as Arsenal booked a place in the Women’s Champions League semi-final for the first time in 10 years with a 2-0 defeat of the Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich.

Two goals in seven minutes from Frida Maanum and Stina Blackstenius in the first half had the 21,307 fans rapt as the Gunners overturned a 1-0 first-leg deficit in style.

There is a real feelgood factor around Arsenal, one that well and truly surrounds the women’s team as much as the men’s. More than 20,000 tickets were sold before the game, far exceeding the 12,232 record for a midweek Women’s Champions League game in England and the atmosphere at a rain-drenched Emirates was passionate, loud and uplifting.

It would be needed. The Gunners looked good in the first leg despite Lea Schüller’s goal giving the German side the win but, despite hammering at the door for much of the second half, Bayern proved difficult to break down. It was a solidity familiar to teams that have played the German side this season. The Frauen Bundesliga leaders have conceded just four times in 16 league games, with a Georgia Stanway penalty at the weekend earning a 1-0 win over Wolfsburg to lift them above their fellow quarter-finalists to the league’s summit.

There was some bad news 11 minutes in, as influential midfielder and club captain Kim Little received lengthy treatment after being brought down by Sarah Zadrazil, before handing Leah Williamson the armband as she trudged off, at least on her feet and not on the waiting stretcher.

The response from the manager Jonas Eidevall was an immediate rejig, with centre-back Lotte Wubben-Moy replacing Little and Williamson shifting forward into the middle.

Rather than send the Gunners