Match Report: London City 1-0 Atlético Madrid
- 4 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Three in three for Van de Donk as London City win at home
Sunday 23rd August | CopperJax Community Stadium
We continued our pre-season preparations with a 1-0 victory over Atlético Madrid, as Daniëlle van de Donk’s first-half strike and a series of outstanding saves from Elene Lete secured the win at the CopperJax Community Stadium.
It was a special day for multiple reasons, with academy talents Sienna Loom and Aya El Bergui both playing 30 minutes, Daan scoring her third goal in three appearances, and we were reunited with the fans after an exciting but long summer away.
In our first home fixture of pre-season, London City created the better of the opportunities in the opening half before showing resilience after the break to preserve a clean sheet.
The first big chance arrived after 10 minutes. Van de Donk produced a perfectly weighted pass to release Delphine Cascarino, who showed her strength to hold off her marker and cut inside, before seeing her effort kept out by the goalkeeper’s feet.
London City went even closer ten minutes later. María Pérez cut the ball back towards Janni Thomsen, who met it first-time on her left foot and crashed an effort against the post.
The hosts continued to threaten, with Pérez the next to try her luck on 28 minutes. The ball fell kindly to the midfielder on the edge of the penalty area, but she could only steer her effort over the crossbar.
London City thought they had found the breakthrough four minutes later after a slick attacking move. Van de Donk played the ball across to Cascarino, who controlled before calmly slotting beyond the goalkeeper, only for the offside flag to cut the celebrations short.
The pressure finally told in the 35th minute, as Van de Donk cleverly allowed the ball to run passed her opposite number, finding space inside the area and guiding a composed finish back across goal and into the far corner to give London City a deserved lead.
Atlético Madrid came out strongly after the interval and Lete was called into action four minutes into the second half, producing an excellent reaction save to deny a close-range volley at her near post.
The visitors continued to search for an equaliser and threatened again on 71 minutes following a dangerous counter-attack, but Lete stretched out a leg to halt the move and keep London City ahead.
At the other end, Rosa Kafaji had an opportunity to add a second six minutes later, forcing the Atlético goalkeeper into a strong save.
With five minutes remaining, the Spanish goalkeeper produced a superb save to preserve our advantage before coming to the rescue again almost immediately, racing from her line to deny a one-on-one.
Those interventions ensured Van de Donk’s first-half goal was enough, as London City secured a 1-0 victory and a clean sheet against Atlético Madrid.
Daniëlle van de Donk was delighted with the performance: “I’m very happy with the win of course, Elene made amazing saves at the end, very happy. I’m proud of the team!
Eder Maestre shared Daan’s pride: “I’m happy, not because of the result, but because we won in front of our fans.
“The first half was amazing, the chances that we had. We had so many chances to have a bigger gap in the second half.
“Maybe in the second half, we got a bit nervous, as the opponent got close and we suffered one or two close situations.”
London City fans, thank you. Your support was incredible today.
We can't wait to see you next time as we take on Manchester United under the lights on Friday 4th September. Let's get this WSL season underway.
Be there, you will not want to miss it.
