Jonas Eidevall has revealed Arsenal sporting director Edu sent him a congratulatory message after his side reached the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in a decade.
Arsenal Women beat Bayern Munich 2-0 on Wednesday night at the Emirates to advance to the Champions League semi-finals 2-1 on aggregate thanks to goals from Frida Maanum and Stina Blackstenius.
Eidevall is looking to become the first head coach to lead a British side to glory in this competition since 2007 – when Arsenal beat Swedish side Umea to win it – and he says he has everyone’s full support at the club.
“I received a very nice message from Edu after the game,” said Eidevall.
“The support from the whole club is magnificent. There’s a lot of talk about always acting classy – you really get the meaning of that when you’re inside the organisation.
“It’s ingrained and spreading through the organization. The communication and conviction from them is incredible.”
Stina Blackstenius celebrates after scoring Arsenal’s second goal against Bayern Munich
Arsenal produced a near-perfect first half to score two goals past Bayern and take the lead on aggregate, and Eidevall believes his side have now shown they can take on anyone.
They will find out on Thursday evening if they will face Paris Saint-Germain or Wolfsburg in the next leg.
“It was a long-term goal to reach the Champions League semi-finals,” he said. “I’m very happy we’re going to the semi-finals. It’s an amazing achievement that we’re so proud of – I told the players before the game, we have the potential to beat any team when we reach everything which is perfect.
“That doesn’t mean it’s easy or that we can do it every time. But we have that potential now. So if we have it, it wouldn’t be amazing and beautiful if we could bring that to a one more step in this competition, to see how strong our wings are and how high we can fly together.
“We managed to do that today, it’s a proud moment for the whole club. If we do well, we can beat any team. It also means that there is a lot of work in the performance to be consistent. I don’t take anything for granted.
“We have to face every situation and do our best.”
Arsenal lost captain Kim Little to injury early on before Katie McCabe was helped with a knock in the closing stages, but Eidevall were unable to provide an update on their status.
Eidevall will be hoping to recover quickly ahead of Sunday’s huge game against title rivals Manchester City in the Women’s Super League. Arsenal trail second-placed City by three points, but have one game less.
“I don’t know [on the injury front]”, he said. “We have to use the hours of tonight and tomorrow in order to have a clear understanding. When we have more information, we will update.”