Arsenal will play Real Madrid in the Women’s Champions League quarter-final, with the first leg to take place in Madrid on 18 or 19 March and the second leg to take place at Emirates Stadium on 26 or 27 March. UEFA say the precise dates will be published by 2pm UK today.
If the Gunners vanquish Madrid, they would play the winners of Bayern Munich or Lyon in the semi-final with the home leg first. Elsewhere in the draw, Manchester City will play Chelsea, while Wolfsburg will play Barcelona.
Arsenal have never played Real Madrid before having only been formed from Deportivo TACON in 2020. Chloe Kelly and Jenna Nighswonger will both be eligible to play in the UWCL knockout rounds.
Always going to be a tough draw, but happy to avoid City (and that half of the draw) purely as it’s dull playing English clubs in European competitions.
Ideal tie and perfectly winnable in QF, glad I got my ticket already as I expect there to be a rush. Semis will be tough as one would expect.
Considering the possibilities I think it’s the ideal draw.
From a fan’s perspective, it’s an unfamiliar team.
From the marketeer’s perspective it’s the easiest to “sell” (due to the fame of the men’s team).
And from the team’s perspective, they’ll probably go into it as favourites.
No idea why this couldn’t have been sorted out weeks ago, mind you.
Madrid are much closer to Barca this year in Liga F. They used to be a million miles away.
Where is Clare W., Taylor in the draw? They sent a girl, while the other teams were the sporting directors, support and team owner Lyon, what is happening with the Arsenal women’s team? It is worrying. And Real Madrid is not as weak as many think. The way we are playing is worrying, key players playing out of their positions is something to think about.
Beyond the networking opportunities, I don’t really see how it matters who is there. It’s not like they can influence it.
I’m talking about support for the women’s team, the others seem very present.