Women's Champions League semi-finals: Arsenal vs Lyon, Barcelona vs Chelsea

The UEFA Women's Champions League semi-final ties are set. We look at the key storylines as four teams aim for the final in Lisbon.

Omens from history

• It has been a good omen for Lyon when they and Barcelona are in the semis. This is the sixth time they have made the last four in the same year, never meeting at this stage, and each time Lyon have reached the final (Barcelona also got there in 2018/19, 2021/22 and 2023/24 but missed out in 2016/17 and 2019/20).
• This is the 17th season in which one nation has two semi-finalists (in fact in 2015/16, France and Germany had two teams each). Out of the previous 16 occasions, 14 times at least one of those two clubs have reached the final (though in eight of those seasons they were paired in the semis). The only two occasions when both teams have lost are also the only two seasons when it has been England that has had two semi-finalists: 2017/18 (Chelsea and Manchester City) and 2022/23 (Chelsea and Arsenal).
• If Arsenal and Chelsea both break that English hoodoo, it will set up the third one-nation final: Frankfurt beat Turbine Potsdam in 2005/06 and Lyon beat Paris Saint-Germain 2016/17. England has already made history once this season by becoming the first nation to provide three quarter-finalists, and London remains the only city to produce two semi-finalists in the same year, having already done so in 2022/23.

Arsenal vs Lyon: 19 & 27 April

As befits the two clubs that have played more games in UEFA competition than any other (Lyon on 150 and Arsenal on 122), there is quite a bit a bit of history between them. Lyon's first-ever European knockout game was a quarter-final against then defending champions Arsenal, and a side including (as now) Wendie Renard dethroned the Gunners. In the 2010/11 semi-final, Eugénie Le Sommer scored twice in Lyon's second-leg victory and both current captains Renard and Kim Little featured, while more recently in 2022/23, Beth Mead's hat-trick on Matchday 1 helped Arsenal inflict Lyon's record home defeat of 5-1, though OL won the return 1-0 on a day overshadowed by Vivianne Miedema's serious injury (the Gunners still topped the group).

The minds of both teams are not on the past, but on getting to Lisbon. Lyon have had an excellent first season so far under Joe Montemurro, who managed Arsenal between 2017 and 2021, winning the 2018/19 WSL title. Lyon's Daniëlle van de Donk is also a former Gunners favourite, while Mariona Caldentey arrived at Arsenal in the summer fresh from helping Barcelona beat Lyon in last season's final.

Mariona has excellent in Arsenal's run which has included them twice overturning first-leg deficits, against Häcken in round 2 and Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, as well as bouncing back from losing 5-1 at Bayern on Matchday 1 to top the group. Renée Slegers took over as coach not long after the Bayern loss and has got the Gunners playing a confident attacking brand of football with quarter-final hero Alessia Russo in resurgent form and January loan arrival Chloe Kelly adding even more vim to their wing play.

But there are few tougher challenges than Lyon, who are aiming for a 12th victory in their record 14 semi-finals (Arsenal have made just one final from seven past last-four ties). Kadidiatou Diani, Melchie Dumornay and Tabitha Chawinga showed their full prowess against Bayern in the last eight, with Ada Hegerberg coming off the bench to get her 66th European goal as a topper, and all through the squad they look to have stepped up even from the displays that took them to the final 12 months ago.

Barcelona vs Chelsea: 20 & 27 April

For the first time in tournament history, the same teams meet in the semi-final for the third season running (though Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain have faced off at this stage four times overall). While Barcelona's wins against Chelsea in those semis were not as comprehensive as their 2021 final victory in Gothenburg that sealed their first title, they both featured victories at Stamford Bridge, last year overturning a deficit from the opening leg, and were soon followed by their second and third trophy lifts.

Getting to Lisbon for a shot at another final win will be far from straightforward for Barcelona, and not just because unlike in the two previous last-four encounter, Lucy Bronze and Keira Walsh will be in the Chelsea squad rather than the Blaugrana line-up. Chelsea have shown a Barcelona-like belief in sweeping all before them this season, summed up by the incredible second-leg first-half display that turned their quarter-final tie with Man City, and they now have in charge the only coach to have stopped the Blaugrana in this competition in the last four years, Sonia Bompastor, who led Lyon to victory in the 2022 Turin final.

Both teams have a depth of attacking talent in particular that give their coaches a wealth of options for the starting XI and substitutions, with Chelsea's summer full-back arrivals Bronze and Sandy Baltimore adding a new dimension to their play as Bompastor has built on Emma Hayes' legacy. But Barcelona have won their last 17 two-legged Champions League ties, Pere Romeu now the fourth coach to keep that run going since a 2018 quarter-final reverse against Lyon, and they have now beaten a long-standing OL record by reaching the semis for the seventh straight year, and hope to equal another by getting to a fifth final in a row.

Where is the 2025 UEFA Women's Champions League final being played?

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Estádio José Alvalade in Lisbon will stage the 2025 UEFA Women's Champions League final on Saturday 24 May.

The home of Sporting CP opened in 2003 ahead of UEFA EURO 2004 in Portugal, replacing another stadium of the same name. It hosted a semi-final of that tournament, among other games, and was the venue for the UEFA Cup decider the following year.

The 2025 final will be the second Women's Champions League showpiece to be held in Lisbon after 2014, when Estádio do Restelo staged Wolfsburg's 4-3 win against Tyresö.