The 2023-24 Ladies’s Champions League is right down to the ultimate 4. With the quarterfinals seeded for group winners vs. group runners-up, it was no huge shock to see the larger groups in Europe seal their place within the latter levels.
Eight-time winners Lyon cruised previous Benfica 6-2 on combination, whereas defending champions Barcelona overcame SK Brann 5-2.
Then we noticed Chelsea punish Ajax for a poor first-leg show and are available away with a 4-1 win, with Paris Saint-Germain taking the ultimate spot with a 5-1 win over Swedish shock package deal BK Häcken
We requested our writers Sophie Lawson, Julien Laurens and Emily Keogh to reply a few of our burning questions from the quarterfinals.
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Semifinals:
April 20-21: Barcelona vs. Chelsea and Lyon vs. Paris Saint-GermainApril 27-28: Chelsea vs. Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain vs. Lyon
1. What stood out for you most throughout the 2 quarterfinal legs?
Lawson: Throughout the 180 minutes of every two-legged tie, the disparity was clear and you’ll pinpoint the place every match obtained away from the unseeded groups. Nevertheless, in case you contemplate that Benfica, SK Brann, Ajax and BK Häcken had been all anticipated to complete third or fourth of their respective teams, and that every one 4 had been venturing into new territory within the knockouts with weaker squads on paper than their seasoned opposition, the way in which all 4 “minnows” carried out themselves was admirable.
Not one of the 4 shied away from the scale of the duty forward of them and all discovered a strategy to play their recreation, whereas managing to attain towards a few of Europe’s most cussed defences.
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Laurens: The inevitability of the outcomes and the domination of the 4 greatest groups in Europe proper now was clear. Chelsea, Barcelona, PSG and Lyon are forward of everybody else within the competitors they usually confirmed why in these quarterfinals.
With seven wins and one draw (Chelsea drew 1-1 with Ajax after successful the primary leg 3-0), it was a stroll within the park and there was nothing that the unseeded groups may do.
Keogh: How managed and direct Ajax and SK Brann had been typically. Going through the likes of Chelsea and Barcelona, each would have been conscious that they had been up towards two of the hardest of opponents within the quarterfinals, but demonstrated a sheer battle and dedication that left followers questioning if this may be the second that an underdog turned victorious. Whereas that story should wait for one more day, the thrill they dropped at the knockouts stood out.
2. Which underdog workforce impressed you probably the most?
Keogh: It must be Ajax. Making it out Group C forward of Bayern Munich and Roma was not simple and the Dutch facet had a number of possibilities to open the scoring towards Chelsea within the quarterfinal first leg, however lacked scientific ending. They are going to have discovered so much from the way in which Chelsea confirmed persistence to climate the storm and deal with the strain.
Going into the second leg 3-0 down, it could have been simple for such a younger squad to have felt discouraged understanding they wanted a miracle to qualify for the semifinals. Ajax didn’t make it simple for Chelsea although, and had constant possibilities that caught the Blues off guard and completed with a good 1-1 draw — a mammoth consequence for them.
In comparison with the place Ajax had been within the qualifiers final season, the expansion and growth they’ve proven since means they’re now certainly one of Europe’s greatest groups.
Lawson: Benfica in all probability managed to regulate extra of their tie towards Lyon than the opposite underdogs did in theirs. The Portuguese champions had been fired up for each legs, however between tiring and being unable to deal with Lyon’s substitutions they pale rapidly in each video games.
Ajax confirmed actual character of their second leg draw vs. Chelsea to appropriate plenty of what went unsuitable of their dwelling recreation, whereas Häcken had been higher at dwelling and except for two lapses that value them a 2-1 defeat to PSG, dealt with their first recreation nicely.
And, despite the fact that the tie towards Barcelona ultimately obtained away from Brann, midfielder Signe Gaupset continued to impress and goalkeeper Aurora Mikalsen put in one of many performances of her profession within the first leg.
Laurens: All of the favorites obtained by means of fairly comfortably. Nevertheless, Benfica had been most spectacular towards Lyon. They took the lead at dwelling within the first leg and had been in entrance till previous the hour mark. Regardless of dropping 2-1 within the first recreation, they had been stage at 1-1 on the break within the second leg and completed the match with extra possession and extra passes accomplished than the French champions, which by no means occurs to Lyon.
Regardless of a 6-2 defeat on combination, the Portuguese champions confirmed their progress and left the competitors with their heads held excessive.
3. After two French groups made the semis, is France the most effective place for girls’s soccer in Europe?
Laurens: Jean-Michel Aulas, the previous Lyon proprietor who did a lot for the ladies’s recreation on all fronts and is now the pinnacle of girls’s soccer in France, stated final week that he wished to make the Division 1 Féminine (D1F) the most effective league on the planet. It isn’t there but and there’s a lot of labor to be completed to overhaul England’s Ladies’s Tremendous League and America’s NWSL, however the progress is obvious.
Lyon and PSG being within the Champions League semifinals exhibits it. They are going to face one another within the semifinals, which signifies that France are assured a membership within the remaining. And with the third pressure of French soccer Paris FC rising to knock out the giants of Arsenal and Wolfsburg within the Champions League qualifiers earlier this season, the dynamic is tremendous constructive.
Lawson: In a phrase: non. Lyon have been a powerhouse of the ladies’s recreation for near twenty years and in that point the panorama has advanced a lot. The French giants have helped map the trail into the skilled world, however there are different groups that may provide gamers the identical requirements that made Lyon so leading edge for thus lengthy, and the house league is filled with disparity.
As Jules factors out, Aulas is eager to push the envelope with D1F, probably breaking the Lyon/PSG duopoly and ushering in an period of professionality throughout the division. However because it stands at this time, even with that juggernaut of girls’s soccer in Lyon main the cost, D1F is not a vacation spot league.
Keogh: On paper, France definitely look to be main the pack within the Champions League, at the very least this season. However final season, there have been two English groups within the semifinals. The UWCL is an ever-changing local weather.
Lyon have been such a powerhouse for thus lengthy, whereas PSG have tried to imitate the success of the boys’s workforce to little impact. One factor is for sure: there shall be a French workforce within the remaining. Trying on the greater image, with Paris FC’s triumph to achieve the group stage, France is definitely up there relating to growth and historical past within the competitors. Nevertheless, the structural integrity of the league and sustainability of the current progress should be judged within the coming seasons.