Juventus Women fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night as Arsenal consolidated their place at the top of Women’s Champions League group. Lyon’s win over Zurich earlier in the evening leaves the Bianconere in third place with two more matchdays to come.
Much like in the first meeting between the two sides in Turin, Juventus ended the night wondering what might have been had they not had such a poor start, struggling for much of the first half in North London.
Vivianne Miedema scored the game’s only goal as she was left unmarked to convert on the end of a cross. The Dutch forward had netter for the Gunners in Turin in a similar fashion.
Juventus are now third with five points from their four games, two points behind European champions Lyon and five off Arsenal. Juventus host Zurich next before a crucial trip to France in the final matchday.
Grosso’s growth
Despite the frustration Juventus coach Joe Montemurro will no doubt feel on the night, he can take some satisfaction from another performance that highlighted the growth of Canadian midfielder Julia Grosso.
The 22-year-old didn’t have a bad first season in Italy last term, but she has gone on to reach new consistently high levels in 2022/23, and her performance in London showed why she had attracted WSL interest last summer, and why Juventus were keen to tie her down to a contract extension at the end of 2021/22.
Grosso was Juventus‘ brightest on the night. She was energetic as ever in midfield and showed a bravery and positivity in possession that not many players on either team could match. While Juventus couldn’t really argue with the outcome at the Emirates, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to suggest that Grosso didn’t deserve to be on the losing team.
Having only just scored her first goal for the club in their recent shock draw at home to Serie A Femminile newcomers Como, Grosso had one of Juventus‘ two attempts on target – joining midfield partner Arianna Caruso – with her second-half shot from range that forced Arsenal goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger into a save.
