Women’s Champions League: Competition returns with history makers and quadruple chasers
The Women’s Champions League returns this week with four fascinating quarter-final ties.
Chelsea are the last English team standing as they attempt to win the last remaining trophy missing from their cabinet during Emma Hayes’ decorated time in charge.
They travel to Amsterdam to face Ajax on Tuesday in the first leg of their last eight contest, while serial winners Lyon and holders Barcelona are both still in the mix for silverware.
Benfica and Norwegian side Brann have already made history by reaching the knockout stage for the first time, with Swedish champions Hacken and Paris St-Germain, who knocked out Manchester United in the round two, completing the draw.
BBC Sport takes a look at the teams left in the competition as they bid to reach this year’s final at the San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao on Saturday 25 May.
Ajax v Chelsea
There are just a couple of months left before Hayes’ trophy-laden 12-year stint as Chelsea manager comes to an end – and the soon-to-be United States boss is determined to go out on a high.
Despite losing star striker Sam Kerr to an anterior cruciate ligament injury, Chelsea are still fighting for a quadruple of titles and the Champions League trophy is the only one that has eluded them under Hayes.
Having qualified top of a group that contained Real Madrid, Paris FC and Hacken, the Blues have added new signings Nathalie Bjorn and Mayra Ramirez, as well as fit-again summer recruit Catarina Macario, to their squad for the knockout stages.
Chelsea lost to Barcelona in the semi-finals last season but to get there again will have to get past an Ajax side who overcame the odds to progress from a group also featuring Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain and Roma.
The Dutch champions finished second behind PSG to reach the last eight for the first time, becoming only the second team from the Netherlands, after Saestrum in 2006-07, to reach this stage.
Benfica v Lyon
Eight-time winners Lyon breezed through their qualifying group, with a 9-0 win away at Slavia Prague the standout result.
After being knocked out on penalties by Chelsea in the quarter-finals last season, the French champions will be aiming to go considerably further as they try to reclaim the trophy they last won in 2021-22.
They will be confident of progressing from this tie given they faced Benfica in the group stage that year – and won both matches 5-0.
However, Benfica will believe they have improved considerably since then after earning an entertaining 4-4 at home to Barcelona in the group stage and qualifying ahead of four-time winners Frankfurt.
The Lisbon-based side are the first Portuguese club to make it through to the last eight and, if their group stage games showed anything, it is that Benfica games tend to bring drama.
They have leaked goals against the big clubs, though, so Lyon duo Kadidiatou Diani and Ada Hegerberg will both fancy their chances of adding to the five goals they each managed in the group games.
Hacken v Paris St-Germain
It is 11 years since Hacken were last in the quarter-finals – back then they were known as Goteborg FC – after finishing ahead of Real Madrid and Paris FC in the group stage.
They had already beaten Eredivisie Vrouwen leaders Twente to get that far and now face PSG, beaten finalists in 2014-15 and 2016-17.
France striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto led the way for PSG in the group, scoring four goals, but is far from the only threat.
Malawi forward Tabitha Chawinga is enjoying a brilliant first season in Paris and with 14 goals in all competitions possesses a real threat for Hacken.
Brann v Barcelona
Brann made history just by qualifying for the group stage but were not done there.
They impressed in both games against Lyon and came from behind 2-0 down to snatch a dramatic late draw in the home match with Sonia Bompastor’s side as they secured second place in the group.
However, they now face Barcelona, the dominant side in European women’s football.
The Catalans won their second Champions League in three seasons last year, coming from behind to beat Wolfsburg 3-2 in the final.
Now they will be targeting back-to-back wins in head coach Jonatan Giraldez’s last season in charge.
The 32-year-old has announced he will leave at the end of the season after a phenomenally successive spell in which lost just one league game since he was appointed in 2021.
Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati headlines a star-studded squad that includes England pair Lucy Bronze and Keira Walsh. It would be an enormous upset if Brann were to get past them.
Source link
