What to look out for on Thursday in the UEFA Women's Champions League
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
Article summary
We preview the action as the top two sides in each group prepare to face off.
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The UEFA Women's Champions League group stage continues on Thursday with some highly anticipated ties. We preview the action.
Thursday 24 November:
Group C
Zürich vs Lyon (18:45), Juventus vs Arsenal (21:00)
Group D
Barcelona vs Bayern (18:45), Benfica vs Rosengård (21:00)
Wednesday 23 November:
Group A
Paris 5-0 Vllaznia, Chelsea 2-0 Real Madrid
Group B
Slavia Praha 0-1 St. Pölten, Roma 1-1 Wolfsburg
All times CET
Top-two showdowns
Two teams yet to drop points face off with Barcelona, on 13 Group D goals already and now returning to Camp Nou, hoping to repeat their 2018/19 semi-final defeat of Bayern, who maintained their 100% start by coming from behind to beat Benfica 3-2 on Matchday 2. Georgia Stanway restored parity on 83 minutes in Seixal before netting the winner deep into added time; she will now be up against her midfield partner in England's UEFA Women's EURO 2022 victory, former Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers colleague Keira Walsh.
Juventus coach Joe Montemurro faces his former club Arsenal, who are two points ahead in Group C. Both might have been expected to tussle for second place behind Lyon, but Arsenal won 5-1 away to the holders and Juve drew 1-1 when OL visited Turin.
They had oddly contrasting fortunes domestically on Saturday: Juventus scored twice in added time to beat Parma 2-1 while the Gunners conceded two goals late on to lose 3-2 to Manchester United in front of 40,604 fans at Arsenal Stadium, ending their FA Women's Super League record 14-game winning streak. To make matters worse, Beth Mead suffered an ACL injury that looks season-ending.
Lyon seek kick-start
Lyon, who claimed their eighth title last season, are three points adrift of second in Group C after suffering that historic loss to Arsenal and then surrendering a half-time lead against Juventus, with the likes of Ada Hegerberg, Griedge Mbock Bathy, Ellie Carpenter, Catarina Macario and Sara Däbritz all sidelined. Amandine Henry is also now out but Dzsenifer Marozsán could play for the first time since April.
OL visit Zürich, who they have put 24 goals past in their three previous European meetings. However, both Juventus and Arsenal had difficulties breaking down a very well-organised Zürich side under Inka Grings.
When are the rest of the Women's Champions League group stage games?
Matchday 4: 7/8 December
Matchday 5: 15/16 December
Matchday 6: 21/22 December
Briefing notes
• Hoping to get off the mark are Benfica and Rosengård, who were both comfortably beaten by Barcelona and surrendered leads against Bayern.
• As is standard in home-and-away groups in UEFA club competition, these Matchday 3 fixtures will be reversed in a fortnight, starting a busy conclusion where the last three sets of games are played in consecutive midweeks.
Where is the 2023 UEFA Women's Champions League final being played?
Eindhoven's PSV Stadium will stage the 2023 UEFA Women's Champions League final at 18:00 CET on Saturday 3 June.
First opened in 1910, the 35,000-capacity arena has a long history of hosting major matches, including the UEFA Cup finals of 1978 (second leg) and 2006, the second leg of the 1988 UEFA Super Cup and three games at UEFA EURO 2000.
On 6 April 2018, 30,238 fans watched the Netherlands beat Northern Ireland on the way to the FIFA Women's World Cup, a record crowd for any UEFA-organised women's qualifier. On 2 June 2019, a then Dutch record women's football attendance of 30,640 saw the Netherlands face Australia in a friendly at the stadium.
