Jonas Eidevall says Frida Maanum ‘doing well’ after collapsing during cup final

Arsenal manager Jonas Eidevall admitted it was “very scary” when Frida Maanum collapsed on the pitch at Molineux but revealed she is “doing well” and was travelling back to London with the squad.

Play was paused in second-half stoppage time of Sunday’s League Cup final, with paramedics called and medical staff encircling the 24-year-old Norway international, who was placed on a stretcher and carried off after about seven minutes.

Arsenal confirmed soon after the incident: “Frida is conscious, talking and in a stable condition. She will continue to be monitored closely by our medical team. We’re all with you, Frida.”

Eidevall added: “I have been able to have a conversation with her but not on a medical perspective.

“I just checked in with her, how she is doing and telling her that we won and understanding a little bit about the next steps, but I don’t have any medical update.

“She is going to travel back with the team and after that we will provide an update.”

Players remained on the pitch throughout and the match resumed, with Alessia Russo replacing Maanum as the game remained goalless and entered extra time.

The Gunners went on to win the match 1-0 thanks to Stina Blackstenius’ 116th-minute goal and Eidevall said his side had been determined to make Maanum “a champion”.

Speaking at a post-match press conference, Eidevall said: “It looks very scary when Frida goes down.

“It would have been easy to be drawn from our focus on the emotions of it but the reality is we have a great medical team and they are going to look after that situation and we need to focus on football. We were able to do that.

“The first thing after the game, we don’t care about winning, we care about how it is with Frida and we are so happy that she is doing well, that is more important than this (the winners’ medal).

“In that moment, we needed to stay task oriented, there is nothing we can do to improve that situation but we can have control over our performance.

“That is what we needed to control and that is what Frida wanted us to do as well to make her a champion.”

Eidevall felt Maanum had played a key role in helping Arsenal retain the trophy, saying: “She kick-started her season last season at Lyon away with a performance like this, where she was incredible in defence.

“That is a great way for Frida to get into the games and from there expressing herself on the ball and this game has a lot of comparisons.

“It is really important for the team and for Frida to get this performance in defence that she does, that is really pleasing to see and it was a massive piece of us being successful today.”