What to look out for on UEFA Women's Champions League Matchday 5
Friday, December 16, 2022
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We preview the action as the group stage continues on Friday.
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Wolfsburg, Arsenal, Bayern and Barcelona are through to the UEFA Women's Champions League quarter-finals and several more group qualification slots could be filled on Friday. We preview the action.
Thursday 15 December:
Group C
Juventus 5-0 Zürich, Arsenal 0-1 Lyon
Group D
Rosengård 0-4 Bayern, Benfica 2-6 Barcelona
Friday 16 December:
Group A
Vllaznia vs Chelsea (18:45), Paris vs Real Madrid (21:00)
Group B
Roma vs St. Pölten (18:45), Wolfsburg vs Slavia Praha (21:00)
All times CET
Winner takes all at Parc des Princes
Paris taking on Madrid at Parc des Princes was always going to be a big game between two teams that got through the same group last season, but the stakes are ratcheting up. A year ago neither team so much as conceded a goal, let alone dropped a point, against anyone else in their section (and Paris did not even do that versus Madrid) but this time Chelsea are a point at Vllaznia away from sealing one of the qualifying positions, having defeated both their main challengers.
Paris began by losing at home to Chelsea and drawing 0-0 in the Spanish capital but a pair of wins and nine unanswered goals against Vllaznia have left the French side two points ahead of Madrid, meaning a home win would book progress, on top of that Sunday victory at Lyon that took them top in France. But Madrid, who came close to beating Chelsea on Matchday 4, will fancy their chances, and would certainly welcome being in contention on the final night, when they host Vllaznia and Paris visit Stamford Bridge.
When are the rest of the Women's Champions League group stage draws and games?
Group stage matchday 6
21/22 December
Quarter-final & semi-final draw
13:00 CET, 20 January, Nyon
Quarter-finals
First leg: 21/22 March
Second leg: 29/30 March
Semi-finals
First leg: 22/23 April
Second leg: 29/30 April
Final (PSV Stadion, Eindhoven)
Saturday 3 June (18:00 CET)
Briefing notes
• Neither Roma nor St. Pölten have reached the quarter-finals before (in fact the Italian side are on debut). But one of them will be joining Wolfsburg in the Group B top two, and it will be Roma unless St. Pölten can win in Italy to keep their own hopes alive.
• A point would be enough for Chelsea at Vllaznia to get through their group. And it would come exactly a year to the day after the 4-0 loss at Wolfsburg that left the 2020/21 runners-up heartbreakingly eliminated in the 2021/22 group stage, on a night when they could have afforded even a one-goal defeat.
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 PSV Stadium 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 at the home of PSV Eindhoven 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.
