Vivianne Miedema scored her 100th Arsenal goal, firing in a hat-trick against Slavia Prague to secure her team’s place in the Champions League group stage. Arsenal led the tie 3-0 from the first leg in London and went one better in the Czech Republic, cruising to a 4-0 victory on the night.
The second leg was scoreless until the hour mark when Miedema volleyed home to break the deadlock. Within 12 minutes, the 25-year-old was celebrating a hat-trick and a century of Arsenal goals. Those 100 goals have arrived in only 110 matches.
Kim Little added a fourth from the penalty spot after Nikita Parris had been fouled, sealing the 7-0 aggregate triumph. The result means Arsenal join WSL champions Chelsea in the group stage.
It was also a fifth win in five games for the Arsenal manager, Jonas Eidevall, who arrived in the summer and oversaw a 3-2 victory against Chelsea on Sunday.
Emma Hayes’s side struggled to contain Miedema at the Emirates Stadium and it was a similar story in Prague. Miedema was a constant threat to the Slavia defence even before she broke the deadlock. The Dutch international then showcased the expert finishing instincts which make her one of the elite forwards in European football.
Miedema, the WSL’s record goalscorer, made history on the night but is out of contract in the summer and Eidevall, keenly aware of what a prize asset he has, outlined that Arsenal were ready to discuss extending her contract whenever the player was ready.
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“We’d like Viv to stay, but I understand from her perspective [she wants] to see where the club is going,” said Eidevall, according to the BBC. “When the time is right she’ll make a decision about her future.”
“The club told me that she scored 100 goals in just 97 starts, and zero of those have been penalties. The numbers speak for themselves, and she doesn’t only score goals. Arsenal should be very proud to have a player like that.”
The draw for the Champions League group stage takes place on Monday. Arsenal are in pot two, while last year’s runners-up in this competition, Chelsea, are in pot one alongside Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and European champions Barcelona. This is the first season the Women’s Champions League has a group stage, with the 16 teams whittled down to eight quarter-finalists.