UEFA Women's Champions League: Players to watch in the quarter-final second legs

The UEFA Women's Champions League quarter-finals conclude on Wednesday and Thursday. We focus on four players with key roles to play.

Sara Däbritz (Lyon)

Midfielder Däbritz joined Lyon from Paris Saint-Germain in 2022 but her first season was disrupted by injury, though she scored the extra-time goal at Chelsea that seemed like it would win the quarter-final tie before a late twist. In 2023/24, Däbritz is proving a vital cog for Lyon in midfield and having one of her most prolific campaigns in front of goal too.

Her headed winner that gave Lyon a 2-1 first-leg victory at Benfica was Däbritz's fourth goal in the Women's Champions League this season; she never previously has scored more than once in a single European campaign. But it is her energy, work rate and tactical intelligence that makes her so important now for Lyon and has won her over 100 Germany caps.

Ingrid Engen (Barcelona)

Engen may not have the profile of many of Barcelona's star names, like compatriot Caroline Graham Hansen, but her value to the squad is clear. Not always a regular starter since joining from Wolfsburg in 2021, this term she has been showing her versatility by moving back from midfield to central defence to cover for the injured Mapi León, and it was in her native Norway that Engen brought up 100 Barcelona appearances in their 2-1 first-leg victory at Brann.

Her intelligent positioning and comfort on the ball have been coming to the fore in those defensive performances, and she has saved her best performances for the biggest games. She has also completed 562 passes in the competition so far, more than any other player. In last year's final against her former team, Engen came off the bench in the 90th minute, but if Barcelona get to the decider again it is unlikely she would not play a much bigger part.

Katariina Kosola (Häcken)

Häcken face a 2-1 deficit at Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday but the Swedish side have already won in the French capital this season at Paris FC, as well as at Real Madrid and Twente along with drawing 0-0 at Chelsea. In all those matches Finnish right-back Kosola was a tireless presence, also scoring the winner in the vital 2-1 comeback home victory against Madrid.

No player across the four quarter-final first legs covered more distance than the 13.0km Kosola managed. Häcken need goals but they also need to ensure Paris do not get control at Parc des Princes and Kosola has a big role in that.

Sjoeke Nüsken (Chelsea)

Nüsken has been in and out of the Chelsea XI following her summer switch from Eintracht Frankfurt but in the last few weeks has come to prominence. Firstly she moved back from midfield into central defence with several regular choices injured, and helped keep cup clean sheets at Manchester City and Everton.

Then with Kadeisha Buchanan now available but absentees further forward, Nüsken switched to her favoured attacking role just off Lauren James, got a double of deflected finishes in the 3-1 defeat of Arsenal and added two more emphatic goals as Chelsea won their quarter-final first leg 3-0 at Ajax. Nüsken has won praise from Emma Hayes for her continued improvement since arriving at Chelsea and the Germany international will hope to keep adding to that goal tally in the Stamford Bridge return.