Chelsea will play Wolfsburg and Manchester City will face Barcelona – the holders of the German and Spanish titles, respectively – in the quarter-finals of the Women’s Champions League.
The Chelsea manager, Emma Hayes will be hoping to overcome last year’s runners-up at the fourth time of asking, having been eliminated by the German side in 2016, 2017 and 2018. Meanwhile, City will play Barcelona for the first time, having been knocked out by Atlético Madrid last year and the preceding season.
Chelsea progressed to the last eight at the expense of Atlético. The west London side shrugged off the dismissal of the stand-in centre-back Sophie Ingle in the 12th minute of the first leg to earn a 2-0 win at Kingsmeadow, with Ann-Katrin Berger saving two penalties.
In the second leg Maren Mjelde opened the scoring from the spot moments after Atlético’s Toni Duggan had crashed a penalty against the crossbar. A last-minute goal from the substitute Emelyne Laurent earned Atleti a draw on the day but it was not enough to stop Chelsea from going through.
City thrashed Fiorentina 8-0 over two legs to earn their place among the final eight, with Ellen White and Sam Mewis scoring three each across the two games. Gareth Taylor’s team have not reached the quarter-final stage since their semi-final exit to Lyon in 2018, while Chelsea were knocked out by the French side at the same stage in 2019. The French side have won the past five tournaments.
Should Manchester City progress, they would play the winner of the game between Sparta Prague or PSG and Lyon. Chelsea or Wolfsburg will meet either Bayern Munich or Rosengård.
Next year the competition is expanding to include an extra qualifying round and a group stage of 16 teams, and will provide an additional place in the tournament for the six highest ranked nations. Broadcast and sponsorship rights, meanwhile, are being centralised.
Draw in full
Bayern Munich v Rosengård
Chelsea v Wolfsburg
Sparta Prague or PSG v Lyon
Barcelona v Manchester City
The quarter- finals will be played 23-24 March and 31 March-1 April.
from Football | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2OsGf7B
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