Arsenal complete treble, German duo on top
Monday, September 26, 2011
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UEFA Women's Champions League entrants Arsenal LFC ended the English season with a third trophy while 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam and 1. FFC Frankfurt kept up superb domestic starts.
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The top seeds enter the UEFA Women's Champions League this week and look in good form with Arsenal LFC ending the English season with a third trophy and 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam and 1. FFC Frankfurt keeping up superb starts to their campaigns.
Arsenal, who regained the FA Women's Cup in May and last month clinched the new FA Women's Super League title, made it a treble on Sunday by beating Birmingham City LFC 4-1 to win the inaugural FA WSL Cup. Birmingham pushed Arsenal all the way in the league but in the knockout final in Burton the Gunners' first-half goals from Ellen White and Jayne Ludlow were embellished by two Rachel Yankey strikes after the break, the perfect warm-up for Thursday's round of 32 first-leg trip to Belarusian side FC Bobruichanka, who remain top of their league after an 8-0 success at FC Victoria-Voronovo.
European champions Olympique Lyonnais, who on Friday confirmed the signing of Brazil midfielder Rosana, were not in action this weekend but have won both their league games so far with a combined 19 unanswered goals ahead of Wednesday's visit to CFF Olimpia Cluj, who have a 100% record in Romania.
That is also true of the German contenders, Potsdam prevailing 2-0 at VfL Wolfsburg and Frankfurt winning by the same score at Hamburger SV on Sunday to join FCR 2001 Duisburg on 12 points, with all three teams yet to concede. Frankfurt travel to Stabæk IF on Wednesday and the Norwegian club suffered a 1-0 loss at Lillestrøm SK on Sunday. In a league which now carries two European places, leaders Røa IL beat second-placed Arna-Bjørnar Fotball to move five points clear with Stabæk one further back.
In Sweden, reigning champions WFC Malmö – visiting Italian newcomers UPC Tavagnacco on Thursday – registered a 2-0 defeat at Linköpings FC to leave the top four split by just two points with three fixtures left. Göteborg FC, who make their European debut at NK Osijek, triumphed 6-0 against Hammarby IF DFF and are third in the table, a point behind Malmö and Tyresö FF and one in front of two-time European champions Umeå IK.
UEFA.com has results and tables for all the competitions leading to the UEFA Women's Champions League.
