Ten of the 18 teams have confirmed, at the very least, their place in the quarter-final play-offs, including all three English sides Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United. Barcelona and OL Lyonnes both confirmed their automatic progression to the quarter-finals courtesy of a 3-1 win over Benfica and a 3-0 win against Manchester United respectively.
It means the final two automatic places remain up for grabs heading into the final week of fixtures. Chelsea’s 6-0 thrashing of Roma makes them best positioned to seize the opportunity with 11 points, while Bayern Munich, who drew 2-2 with Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid, 2-0 victors over Wolfsburg, and Juventus are all on 10 points.
Manchester United are ninth in the table, level on points with Arsenal but with an inferior goal difference. Both are still technically in the running for an automatic qualification but require favours elsewhere.
Megan Feringa and Laia Cervello Herrero analyse the key talking points from this round of fixtures.
Can Arsenal become more ruthless in the final third?
Sometimes, it’s more about the destination than the journey. That’s especially true when it comes to getting out of the Champions League group stages. Arsenal can say, at the very least, they have a play-off spot guaranteed courtesy of a 1-0 win against FC Twente on Tuesday.
That the reigning European champions would not make it through to the knockout stages risked sounding like the season’s worst hot take. But there have been travails on Arsenal’s journey through the group stages: losing to Lyonnes and Bayern Munich, the latter arriving in the middle of two draws in the Women’s Super League. But this squad is oozing with quality and eventually quality tells, even if it struggles to assert itself at times.
That was the case on Tuesday against Twente: Arsenal comfortably dominant, their press wreaking havoc and wingers Beth Mead and Olivia Smith causing plenty of issues, yet ultimately struggling to make it count beyond Mead’s first-half strike, assisted by Alessia Russo.
Twente offered little in response, managing just two shots with one on target. Arsenal’s defence deserves credit for denying them time and space, particularly in midfield. But attacking wise, there was more to be desired. Speaking after the match, Mead talked about the need to take “more risks in the final third” to help put their glut of chances away.
“We obviously want to score more goals,” she told Disney+. “We had chances to do that. We weren’t ruthless enough in front of goal. When you have chances you have to score.”
The chances are there, and that’s arguably half the challenge. Converting those chances feels rather a matter of time. But if Arsenal are to defend their European title this season, more bite in the final third will be crucial. A final European test against Oud-Heverlee Leuven awaits next week.
Megan Feringa
Barca win without key players
There are surely not many teams in the world who despite being shorn of six key players can still impress in a Champions League match.
Barcelona went into their match against Benfica without the injured Aitana Bonmati, Patri Guijarro, Ona Batlle, Salma Paralluelo, Kika Nazareth and, at the last minute, Irene Paredes, who was suffering from a fever. Even so, they beat Benfica and practically sealed their place in the next round.
Based on the first half alone, it was a miracle Barca didn’t end up winning by a landslide. On this occasion, that miracle had a name: goalkeeper Lena Pauels. Special mention also goes to the post, which the Catalans hit three times. Claudia Pina hit the woodwork twice, in the 17th minute and in added time, while Caroline Graham Hansen also struck the woodwork in first-half added time. Even Alexia Putellas tried a bicycle kick.
But despite all that, Barcelona went into the break with only a 1-0 lead thanks to Ewa Pajor goal.
Benfica, who already knew they had no chance of progressing further in the competition, came out after the break determined to make the hosts work for their win and quickly scored. A poor clearance by Mapi Leon and a lack of communication with Cata Coll led to Chandra Davidson making it 1-1 before a Christy Ucheibe own goal and Putellas sealed the win.
Barcelona weren’t at their best but context is necessary because they were without important players. They lacked accuracy in attack, could have scored many more goals and were vulnerable in defence at times, allowing Benfica to stay in the game until half-way through the second half.
Laia Cervello Herrero
Skinner’s rotation experiment backfires
The teamsheets brought gasps. 37-year-old Rachel Williams was to lead the line against eight-time European champions OL Lyonnes. Jess Park, Ella Toone and Julia Olme Zigiotti dropped to the bench in favour of Lisa Naalsund, Simi Awujo and Fridolina Rolfo, while striker Elisabeth Terland was unavailable due to a knock sustained in the 2-1 win against West Ham United.
That Park, Toone and Zigiotti would all be reinstated 45 minutes later spoke to how sorely outplayed and outclassed United were by a scintillating OL, who opened the scoring in the 12th minute via Tabitha Chawinga’s header and reduced United to minor inconveniences for the rest of the half.
United failed to manage a touch in OL’s box or a shot until the 40th minute, both arriving as Hinata Miyazawa’s deft cross found Melvine Malard unmarked in the box but the France international failed to get her shot on target.
The hosts looked an improved team in the second half as they battled on and off the ball, yet still failed to test OL goalkeeper Christiane Endler, unable to muster a single shot on target. Despite Lyon scuffing a number of good chances, their quality eventually told. Melchie Dumornay curled an exquisite effort into the top-right corner in the final 10 minutes before finishing off a brilliant team move for their third in the 90th minute, Lyon scything through United like water.
United’s rotation – and subsequent un-rotation – was eye-catching, a gamble gone completely wrong on the part of head coach Marc Skinner.
Skinner spoke after the match about the need to negate OL’s physical presence, particularly in set pieces, and his decision to start Williams and Naalsund were an effort to do that, with a plan to drip feed more technical players in throughout the match. However, the gap in performance in the first half forced Skinner’s hand to bring on Park and Zigiotti to wrestle back some control in midfield and offer some cohesion in attack.
Even so, that the performance would suffer so drastically was the latest sign to United’s hierarchy that recruitments are needed in January to continue to compete at this level.
Megan Feringa
Chelsea back to being ruthless
Memories of Chelsea’s goalscoring woes against Everton were difficult to recall as Sjoeke Nusken thrashed home her side’s fourth of the night in the 51st minute from the penalty spot. This was Chelsea back to normal: ruthless.
A performance like this was needed after suffering their first league defeat of the Sonia Bompastor era in the 1-0 loss to Everton, ending a record 34-match unbeaten run in the process.
But sometimes broken records ease a burden and that certainly seemed the case as Chelsea opened the scoring in the opening 12 minutes, Sandy Baltimore’s cross being turned in by Roma’s Valentina Bergamaschi before Rhytting Kaneryd set up Wieke Kaptein for the second then added a third herself. With less than 15 minutes to spare, Maika Hamano and Lucy Bronze added their names to the goal sheet.
If the weekend’s defeat was meant to leave an indelible mark on Chelsea, it certainly didn’t seem so. Head coach Bompastor made six changes and while some pundits questioned whether the constant chopping and changing has lent a hand in the erratic performances and a lack of clinical edge in the final third, Chelsea’s strength has long been their enviable depth.
Against Roma they proved why that is. They’ll need to do so again against Wolfsburg if they want to book themselves automatically into the quarter-finals.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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