2024-01-19 13:01:48
Holders FC Barcelona and eight-time winners Lyon have already secured their places in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Other teams could join them on Wednesday and Thursday, during the fifth day.
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A trap group
Group C made up of Ajax, Bayern, Paris Saint-Germain and Roma was highly anticipated before the start of the competition. Four matches later, the suspense remains. Ajax, who was an outsider, remains at the top of the standings, but is only three points ahead of bottom-placed Roma, who had managed to overcome a two-goal deficit against Bayern (2- 2) then to beat the champions of the Netherlands (3-0) on the second day, but which was relegated to fourth place following two defeats against Paris, which fell from last to second place .
Paris and Ajax face off at the Parc des Princes, the visitors know a win would take them to a first quarter-final, while the home side could also qualify with a win if Roma also beat Bayern . A defeat would end Roma’s hopes and a Bayern defeat would also eliminate them if Paris wins. Given how this group is going so far, it’s going to be a show until the end.
Marie-Antoinette Katoto, her break goal in Rome
The Swedish challenge
Paris FC, like their PSG counterparts, had not taken a point after two matches, but found a smile again with two victories in December, beating Real Madrid home and away to put an end to the hopes of the Spanish club. This victory allowed the PFC to come back to within one point of Häcken, the outsider of the group, who started by winning in Paris and beating Madrid, before drawing 0-0 in London against Chelsea and losing 3 -1 at home against the English champions.
Chelsea are top and a home win against Madrid would allow them to move forward quickly, while having to adapt to the absence of Sam Kerr, who is out. But it is in Sweden that the suspense reigns, where the Häcken team know that a second defeat of Paris would allow them to play their first quarter-final since 2012/13, when they were known as Göteborg FC .
While the home defeat to Häcken was part of a series of disappointing performances for PFC, they began to look more like the team that surprised Arsenal and Wolfsburg in the play-offs, with a stronger defense and a stronger Gaëtane Thiney on fire in attack.
En deux minutes, Paris FC 1-2 Häcken
Benfica aims for history
When Benfica set up its first women’s section at the end of 2017, FFC Frankfurt had already won four European titles. At that point, reaching the last 16 was the limit of Portuguese ambition in this tournament and the idea that any of their clubs could even be competitive with a German team was fanciful.
But this week, Benfica must win at Rosengård, an already eliminated team, to overtake Eintracht Frankfurt and reach the quarter-finals, because the Lisbon Eagles’ progress has been so rapid that it would not be considered a big surprise. The Lisbon side needed a penalty saved in added time by their German goalkeeper Lena Pauels to snatch a 1-1 draw in Frankfurt, which allowed Benfica to maintain their second place, three points ahead and the advantage over the other teams, while having demonstrated the same efficiency after the departure of the prolific Cloé Lacasse towards Arsenal.
Brann very close to an exploit
Norway have much more experience in this competition than Portugal, but at the start of the season Brann was not necessarily among the quarter-finalists many expected when the season began in September, especially since he had a mixed year nationally. However, they comfortably won tricky qualifying matches against Anderlecht and Glasgow City and then, as the only team in the group stage to debut in the last 16 across all formats, Brann beat experienced opponents such as St.Pölten and Slavia.
In December, they showed they could compete with eight-time world champions Lyon, losing 3-1 away, then becoming the first team to avoid defeat after falling 2-0 down to Olympique Lyonnais in a 2-2 draw at home, the young prodigy Signe Gaupset having equalized in added time to bring some warmth back to the Bergen crowd, in a snowy setting.
By avoiding a defeat against Slavia, Brann would qualify for the quarter-finals even before the trip to St-Pölten. Slavia, three-time quarter-finalists between 2015/16 and 2018/19, beat St. Pölten 1-0 in their postponed matchday four match last Thursday to move back to within three points of Brann. The Czechs need a win to stay in the race, and a victory by two goals or more would be even more valuable to leapfrog Brann in the head-to-head matches, after losing 1-0 in Norway in November.
Amel Majri at the conclusion for Lyon
Where is the 2024 Women’s Champions League final played?
The San Mamés stadium in Bilbao will host the 2024 UEFA Women’s Champions League final on May 25, the time of which has not yet been determined.
Home of the Athletic Club in Bilbao, this enclosure with more than 50,000 seats was built on the site of the old San Mamés, to replace the century-old stadium of the same name. Athletic Club’s women’s team played several matches at their new stadium, attracting 48,121 spectators for a cup match against Atlético Madrid in 2019, a record attendance in Spain at the time.
San Mamés has already been the scene of two quarter-finals and a semi-final in the 2019/20 Women’s Champions League which ended in an eight-team knockout tournament played behind closed doors. The remaining matches, including the final, were played in San Sebastian, as the competition concluded in Spain for the second time following the first final of the Women’s Champions era played in Getafe in 2010.
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