Arsenal Women’s plane catches fire on runway to delay return from Wolfsburg

The plane due to carry the Arsenal squad back from their Women’s Champions League semi-final at Wolfsburg caught fire with the players on board, forcing them to disembark and stay an extra night in Germany.

Pictures showed flames coming from under the plane’s left wing on the runway, with the fire understood to have started after a bird flew into one of the engines. The incident occurred on Sunday at Braunschweig Wolfsburg airport after Arsenal had come from two goals down to draw 2-2 with the Frauen-Bundesliga champions.

Arsenal said in a statement: “Our aircraft developed a technical issue prior to take-off in Germany on Sunday evening. As a result, we remained in Wolfsburg overnight on Sunday before flying back to England on Monday afternoon. We would like to thank the staff onboard the aircraft and on the ground at the airport for their assistance.”

Arsenal face Wolfsburg in the return at the Emirates Stadium next Monday and Katie McCabe has said that losing the captain, Kim Little, and vice-captain, Leah Williamson, to injury last week has given them extra motivation to win the Champions League.

“We are still in it. We knew from last season this is a difficult place to come to,” said McCabe. “They have fantastic support, and they are a fantastic team so to show a gutsy performance to come back and make it 2-2, I am really proud of that. It’s all to play for at the Emirates.”

The Republic of Ireland international says the team are showing their character on a regular basis. “We have been in those situations a couple of times this year – against Man City, in the Conti Cup against Chelsea – and we have shown who we are as a team. We know we have the quality to create goalscoring opportunities. We didn’t let [going 2-0