Women's Champions League Matchday 5 preview

Matchday 5 of the UEFA Women's Champions League concludes on Thursday as the focus shifts to the races for first place in the groups and seeding in the last-eight draw.

We preview the action.

Thursday's games

Group C

Bayern vs Juventus

Bayern, who along with Roma missed out last year in that stacked group behind Paris Saint-Germain and Ajax, have ensured a quarter-final return with two games to spare, though their perfect record was ended by a late Vålerenga equaliser in Oslo on Matchday 4. That reduced their lead over Arsenal to one point, and it would be more than useful to Bayern to get that advantage back up to at least three ahead of the visit to the Gunners, considering the head-to-head benefit of their opening 5-2 defeat of the 2006/07 champions.

Juventus, however, did not fare so well against Arsenal and having lost 4-0 to the Gunners in Turin, they conceded an 89th-minute goal to lose 1-0 in London, ending their bid to reach a second quarter-final. Juve also were beaten 2-0 at home by Bayern, their European form in stark contrast to their excellent start in Serie A under new coach Max Canzi. These last matches at Bayern and at home against Vålerenga are at least a chance for Juve to end their Champions League campaign in the same way it started with the impressive home and away round 2 defeats of Paris Saint-Germain.

Vålerenga vs Arsenal

Lina Hurtig's late winner against Juventus ensured Arsenal (and indeed Bayern) were safely into the quarter-finals with two games to spare, extinguishing Vålerenga's mathematical chances. Thanks to Elise Thorsnes' similarly late equaliser for Vålerenga against Bayern earlier the same evening, it ensured Arsenal reduced that gap to first place, underlining their improved form under interim coach Renée Slegers.

The race for top spot still gives Arsenal much to play for in Oslo and Vålerenga similarly will be keen to build on their first group-stage point and give themselves even more to celebrate in a year in which they comfortably retained the Toppserien title and ended their domestic season on 24 November by beating Rosenborg 1-0 to win the Norwegian Cup and complete the double. The match also means a return to Norway for Arsenal's in-form Frida Maanum.

Group D

Man City vs St. Pölten 

City's group-stage debut began with a 2-0 victory over Barcelona and home and away wins against Hammarby mean they are into their first quarter-final since 2020/21 and are yet to drop a point. With Barcelona still within three points, and awaiting City at Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on 18 December, Gareth Taylor's side still have much to play for against the Austrian champions.

The City manager has given a chance to some of his younger players in recent group games, not least with Vivianne Miedema and Lauren Hemp injured, and been rewarded with excellent displays from the likes of Aoba Fujino and Laura Blindkilde Brown. Four defeats have ended St. Pölten's hopes of progress but at home to City they led early in the second half before an eventual 3-2 defeat and they also performed more than credibly in the 4-1 home loss to Barcelona, when the Austrian champions had a much-depleted squad shorn of key experienced players.

Hammarby vs Barcelona

The second quarter-final place from this group remains mathematically up for grabs, but for Hammarby to have any chance of denying Barcelona, they will need to beat the holders by at least the nine-goal margin by which the Swedish side lost away on Matchday 2. A victory by that amount would be a sensation to put it mildly but Hammarby, only narrowly beaten 2-1 at home by City, look set to attract another 20,000-plus crowd against Barcelona.

Barça themselves reacted to that rare loss in Manchester by inflicting a series of heavy defeats on subsequent opponents, not least in this group where they have scored 20 goals in the three wins since, including the 9-0 against Hammarby. That 11 different players have shared those 20 goals underlines the breadth of the threat Barcelona pose.