Shelley Kerr spoke to Arsenal.com after Arsenal Ladies progressed to the semi-finals of the Women's Champions League with a 4-1 aggregate victory over Italian champions ASD Torres.
on the outcome of the tie…
I think if you'd said before both legs that we would win 4-1 on aggregate you would absolutely take that. We're delighted. In the the first leg we played particularly well and that set us up for the second leg. We're delighted that we didn't concede today. That was part of our game plan - not to concede a goal. We got a good early goal which settled us a little bit.
on the performance of the defence…
I thought that the back four and the goalkeeper were fantastic. Torres gave us a physical battle today and I thought we were very disciplined in our defending. That was a big thing because I know that the girls were a little bit disappointed at conceding that late goal at home. They were determined to make amends for that. It was great to see that we can play under pressure and not concede a goal. That's something that I think is a good mindset to have - that you can go away from home, not concede and have an accomplished defensive performance.
on the early goal affecting the tempo of the match...
I think it did. In one sense we wanted the early goal of course, but perhaps it meant that we took our foot off the gas and we lacked a little bit our flowing and passing game today. And I think that was perhaps down to the fact that we felt the job was done then. It would have been really difficult for Torres to come back and score four goals against us.
on impact of the 3,000 strong crowd...
I don't think [it affected us]. I think what did effect the team today was the early goal. I think if we hadn't got the early goal we would probably have played a little bit better.
on starting her tenure with a Champions League quarter-final...
Yes it's been great. You come to a level and these are the games you want to play and want to be involved in. So it's been absolutely brilliant. I keep on saying this, but there's an extremely professional and talented group of players at this Club and I find myself very fortunate and lucky to be their coach.
on trying to reach the final…
I think you can't be complacent because when it comes to this stage of the tournament, they're all good opponents no matter who you get. We touch base with the players that they should be respectful for every opponent they play. What we need to do is concentrate on what we have in our locker and we have talent in abundance. So whoever we play at this stage in the competition, it's going to be tough, and we need to be at our very best to progress.
on the final begin played at Stamford Bridge…
I know the girls would absolutely love to play in England, in the UK, in a final. It's really an added incentive, a bonus.
on Houghton captaining the team…
Kelly has been appointed Club captain. Steph has been appointed vice-captain.
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