Women's Champions League round of 16 form guide
Monday, November 7, 2016
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UEFA.com look at the form of the 16 sides in UEFA Women's Champions League action in midweek with Wolfsburg suffering a stumble but Lyon as free-scoring as ever.
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Germany
Wolfsburg were grateful for a late Babett Peter winner to give them a 2-1 victory at point-less Borussia Mönchengladbach on Saturday to keep them within four points of leaders Turbine Potsdam, who had prevailed 1-0 at the Wolves on Wednesday. Having also drawn 0-0 with FFC Frankfurt the previous weekend on the resumption from the international break, Wolfsburg are only one point ahead of third-placed Bayern München, who have a game in hand.
Bayern have beaten Duisburg 3-1 and Hoffenheim 1-0, Vivianne Miedema scoring in both games to take their winning run to seven in all competitions, but have a long injury list at the moment. Melanie Leupolz was the latest to be sidelined alongside Sarah Romert, Vanessa Bürki, Lena Lotzen, Mana Iwabuchi, Manuela Zinsberger, Viktoria Schnaderbeck and Verena Faisst as they prepare to face Rossiyanka.
France
Both Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain have perfect records seven games into the season but it is the current French and European champions who are in the more impressive form. Lyon's 5-0 win at Rodez on Saturday takes them to 47 goals in those seven games, Eugénie Le Sommer and Ada Hegerberg scoring 18 between them alone.
Paris have a relative modest 19 goals following Sunday's 2-0 success at Soyaux, but are yet to concede. The top two do not meet until 18 December.
Sweden
The Damallsvenskan season finished on Saturday, Rosengård ending their title defence ten points behind unbeaten champions Linköping. Rosengård ended with a 7-0 defeat of Mallbacken, both Lotta Schelin and Lieke Martens scoring twice while Eskilstuna United, who finished third, were beaten 5-0 at Linköping.
Denmark
In the other league with two round of 16 contenders, Brøndby and Fortuna Hjørring are showing their usual dominance. Both have 11 wins and one draw (against each other on 24 September), and on Saturday Fortuna prevailed 5-1 at bottom side Varde while Brøndby beat KoldingQ 3-0 to open up a 13-point gap to third place.
England
Manchester City, who face Brøndby, ended their first FA Women's Super League title-winning season unbeaten as a Demi Stokes goal gave them a 1-1 draw at home to Birmingham City on 30 October, when they picked up the trophy in front of around 2,500 fans. That will be the last English top-flight summer season as the 2017/18 campaign will revert to an autumn to spring calendar.
Other contenders
Zürich have the task of facing Lyon and at the Swiss league winter break are third and 12 points behind Neunkirch, though with a game in hand. Zürich's last two league results have been 3-3 at Lugano and 2-2 at Young Boys, though on Sunday they won 8-1 at Walperswil in the Swiss Cup last 16.
Barcelona and Twente have a rematch of their 2015/16 last-16 tie and both look in good shape. Barcelona have nine wins out of nine in Spain, beating Tacuense 3-0 on Sunday to restore their two-point lead over Atlético Madrid, while Twente twice equalised in a 2-2 draw with Ajax, who had not previously dropped a point. Twente are three points behind Ajax, who beat them on the opening day.
Slavia Praha, preparing to face fellow 2015/16 quarter-finalists Rosengård, drew 1-1 in Sunday's derby with Sparta Praha to remain unbeaten and level on points at the summit of the Czech league, with a game in hand. Brescia, who take on Fortuna, have four wins out of four in Italy following Sunday's 1-0 win against Cueno.
Rossiyanka and Paris opponents BIIK-Kazygurt are in close season having retained their respective Russian and Kazakhstani titles. BIIK finished unbeaten with 105 goals scored and just four conceded in 16 games.