‘My foot was well padded up but it still works!” Katie McCabe reacts to victory over Manchester City

Following Wednesday night’s exhilarating victory over Bayern Munich, Katie McCabe celebrated on the field wearing a protective boot and on crutches.

A whack on the foot forced her off in the 89th minute and the prospect of her playing against Manchester City on Sunday did not look good. Not only did she play but she scored the winning goal with a trademark bullet shot with her left foot in the 74th minute.

Arseblog News catches up with McCabe post-match and the Ireland captain admits there was a little soul searching at half-time after City dominated the first half and went into the interval with a deserved lead.

“We were frustrated going in at half-time because we knew we didn’t start the game the way we wanted to,” McCabe reflects. “You see the energy we brought at the Emirates on Wednesday and how we put Bayern under pressure and we didn’t do that in the first half today.

“We were frustrated that we didn’t do that, but look, City are a really good team and they really worked us and beat our press well. The message at half-time was to get a little bit more compact and close those gaps they were exploiting.

“We executed that perfectly at the start of the half and then changed formation towards the end of the game to see it out.” Frida Maanum equalised before McCabe collected a short corner and arrowed it into the top corner.

Arseblog News asks McCabe whether she winced as she wound up her heavily strapped foot for her rasping winning goal.

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— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) April 2, 2023

“It was more than a whack! The foot wasn’t in a good way on Wednesday, it was absolutely rattled but our medical team have done an unbelievable job on the quick turnaorund.

“My foot has been in ice for the last four days trying to get the swelling down. It’s well padded up but it still works! You can actually see the hole in the boot from the stud.”

I ask McCabe about her celebration, in which she sprinted to the bench to be mobbed by her teammates and staff in the dugout.

ABSOLUTE SCENES. pic.twitter.com/CCym5XaxEy

— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) April 2, 2023

“I wanted to celebrate with the girls on the bench because it’s been a real squad effort this whole season. We’ve had players picking up injuries all season, Kim in the last game, Caitlin came off today.

“It’s that togetherness we have in the squad. I wanted to celebrate with everyone because it’s all about the team and the squad. We’ve stayed together and I think you could see that in the celebration.”

McCabe admits that City had the better of the first half but put Arsenal’s improved second half showing down to the character of the group, who have now come from behind to beat Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Manchester City this month.

“In the first half they were a little more physical than us winning second balls. But it shows the character and resilience of the team to come out in the second half and put it right. Credit to the girls that we did.”

Kim Little was ruled out of this game and Caitlin Foord had to hobble off before half-time but McCabe says there is a special spirit in the squad this season.

“What we do on the training pitch is really important, when you get injuries like Kim and Caitlin and Steph and earlier in the season, Beth, Viv, Leah and Rafa, unfortunately it’s a long list for us but we have the players to step in and do a job.

“You see it with Kee (Katherine Kuhl), 19 years of age and she comes in and sees the game out for us it’s all about staying together and we showed that today.”

Arsenal had issues with Manchester City overloading midfield in the first half and the player of the match was almost certainly City midfielder Yui Hasegawa and McCabe admits that City excelling in that area is inevitable for spells of a game at the very least.

“When you play a team like City, they are a great footballing team, they’re going to dominate the ball at times but it’s about how we control the spaces and where we want to send them.

“Hasegawa is a fantastic player so at times she got the better of us but Wally and Leah and Frida did really well in the midfield as well. It was a good battle but I am glad we won.”