The first round of the final phase of the 2023/24 Women’s Champions League starts on March 19. Barcelona and Lyon remain the favorites but watch out for Chelsea who are performing very well. Let’s explore all the teams and challenges together.
Women’s Champions League: between sureties and loose balls
The twenty-third edition of the UEFA Women’s Champions League, the most important tournament for women’s football clubs in Europe, reaches the final in a row with four quarter-final matches. The stakes are so high, final on May 25, 2024Planned for the legendary San Mamés stadium in Bilbao, Spain, it is seen as a concrete goal for the teams that have qualified for some of the knockout rounds, and a dream come true for those left out of this direct knockout round.
Unfortunately There is no Italian team among the competitors The title remained in the race, as Roma left a not-so-easy group, where they faced Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and Ajax. Although the Dutch seemed like an approachable opponent on the eve of the match, they surprised everyone by achieving an unexpected ranking and finishing the group with equal points with PSG.
Women’s Champions League 2023/24: 8 finalists
Amsterdam club girls, dragged gracefully by a Romée Leuchter (nine goals so far, leading the tournament’s top scorers), they have won three of their home matches, edging out Bayern Munich, one of the highest-rated teams in the competition. Of course, it remains a shame for the Giallorossi, who were not so fortunate in a draw that put them in perhaps the toughest and most balanced group of the group stage.
In the quarter-finals, Ajax will challenge Chelsea in the 2023/2024 Women’s Champions League one of the absolute favorites. The Blues girls dominated group D, emerging from it undefeated (four wins and two draws), and last year they capitulated after a tough semi-final against armored Barcelona, who went on to win the cup.
Chelsea can also count on manager Emma Hayes’ desire to finish on a high note after twelve years on the England bench since July as added motivation to do well if necessary. Will continue to coach the US women’s national team. In short, The predictions are completely in favor of Chelsea.
The quarter-final match, where the biggest surprise of the groups, Brann, and the last champion Barcelona, which we just mentioned, will face each other, looks even more unbalanced. The Norwegians began their 2023/2024 Women’s Champions League journey by sending much higher-ranked Anderlecht and Glasgow into the qualifiers, starting in the first round.
added to group B Brann girls eliminated Slavia Prague and St.PoltenWe are much higher than them in the UEFA rankings. In fact, Brann closed the 2022/2023 with a coefficient that puts them in sixty-fourth place in the rankings, compared to the eleventh and fourteenth place of their eliminated rivals. Moreover, Brann even disturbed the very strong Lyon, which finished the first stage at the top of the group, albeit only 1 point ahead.
Despite these premises, the Bergen-based team’s challenge against Barcelona looks unorthodox. Barcelona ranks first in the UEFA rankingsPlaying in the last three Champions League finals (two wins), they dominate the Spanish La Liga, which they have won four consecutive seasons, with five wins and one draw in group stages.
On the other hand, we are talking about the following team: Its cast includes Alexia Putellas and Aitana Bonmatì, winners of the last three women’s Ballon d’Or awards, and other great players such as Salma Paralluelo and Caroline Graham Hansen are just a few. In short, Azulgrana’s fight is completely unbalanced and no surprises are conceivable.
Watch out for Women’s Champions League finalists Benfica
Benfica have been another team struggling to progress to the group stage since the first round, earning a brave and spectacular 4-4 draw with Barcelona in the final group game. Portuguese They can count on Marie-Yasmine Alidou’s talentAlready making it eight goals in the Champions League, his goal in a key 1-0 win against Eintracht Frankfurt was awarded as the best score in the first block of the competition.
They will face a Lyon side who have reached the quarter-finals for the fifteenth time (equaling Arsenal’s record) and have won the trophy eight times, the last of which was in 2022, and have reached the finals ten times. Therefore, in this case, the prediction all on the side of the French teamHowever, it is right to underline that Benfica can really piss everyone off when the day comes.
Finally, there is the match between the Swedish team Hacken and Paris Saint Germain. Parisians reach the quarter-finals for the ninth time We have been aiming for the semi-finals for the last 10 seasons. If it is true that Hacken kept Paris FC and Real Madrid at bay in the group, the difference in technical quality between the two teams still seems insurmountable.
