Arsenal Women will welcome Real Madrid Femenino to the Emirates Stadium for Wednesday’s Women’s Champions League clash.
The Gunners are tasked with overturning a two-goal deficit after experiencing an unsuccessful trip to the Spanish capital last week.
Match preview
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Arsenal are competing in their 16th UWCL quarter-final after winning five of their six group games (D1) to finish above Bayern Munich, Juventus and Valerenga.
The Gunners were guaranteed a home second leg as a result of their group win, and they will certainly need to make full use of home advantage if they are to make an eighth semi-final appearance.
Renee Slegers‘s side fell to a disappointing 2-0 defeat in Madrid last week, bringing an end to their five-game winning run in the UWCL.
They at least managed to restore some confidence with a resounding 4-0 home victory in Saturday’s Women’s Super League home match against Liverpool, which came courtesy of efforts from Caitlin Foord and Mariona Caldentey as well as a couple of Jasmine Matthews own goals.
As a result, second-placed Arsenal moved onto 39 points from 17 matches, giving them a seven-point advantage over fourth-placed Manchester City in the race for European qualification.
While they are on course to appear in next season’s UWCL, Arsenal’s current focus will be on continuing their participation in this year’s competition, and they will take confidence from the fact that they have won all six of their European home matches this season, scoring at least three goals in four of those victories.
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Real Madrid are competing in just their second UWCL quarter-final after finishing second in Group B following four wins and two defeats.
Both of those losses took place against Chelsea, but Las Blancas had no problem in dispatching English opposition in last week’s first leg, recording a precious 2-0 win thanks to goals from Linda Caicedo and Athenea del Castillo.
They followed their first UWCL knockout round win with their first victory over rivals Barcelona in Sunday’s clash at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys.
Alba Redondo saw her opener cancelled out by Caroline Graham Hansen, before Barcelona’s Jana Fernandez saw her late goal incorrectly ruled out for offside, with no VAR in place to overturn the on-field decision.
Las Blancas ultimately made full use of that piece of fortune, as substitute Caroline Weir netted a brace to end a run of 18 consecutive defeats against Barcelona with a memorable away victory, moving her side to within four points of the Catalan giants at the top of the Liga F table.
Real Madrid now have the chance to reach their first-ever UWCL semi-final, and while they may be concerned that five of their previous nine European away games have ended in defeat (W4), they have not lost a UWCL away match by two goals or more since November 2022 when they were beaten 2-0 by Chelsea.
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Team News
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Arsenal will have to assess Kim Little‘s fitness after the experienced midfielder was forced off in the second half of the 4-0 win over Liverpool.
Lotte Wubben-Moy remains unavailable for selection, while Laia Codina is a doubt following her absence from Saturday’s matchday squad.
Victoria Pelova will provide a useful option off the bench after she came off the bench against Liverpool to make her long-awaited return from a long-term knee injury.
As for the visitors, they are unable to call upon Rocio Galvez and Teresa Abelleira, who have both been ruled out for the rest of the season.
Melanie Leupolz‘s campaign has also been cut short after she suffered a torn lateral ligament in last week’s first leg.
Sheila Garcia, Olga Carmona, Caicedo and Weir are all set to return to the lineup after they were used from the bench against Barcelona, as Alberto Toril looked to keep some of his key players fresh for Wednesday’s second leg.
Arsenal Women possible starting lineup:
Van Domselaar; Fox, Williamson, Catley, McCabe; Walti, Maanum; Kelly, Caldentey, Foord; Russo
Real Madrid Femenino possible starting lineup:
Misa; Garcia, Lakrar, Mendez, Carmona; Toletti, Angeldal; Del Castillo, Weir, Caicedo; Redondo
We say: Arsenal Women 2-1 Real Madrid Femenino
Prior to last week’s first leg, Arsenal would have been favourites to progress from this tie, partly due to Real Madrid’s reputation for faltering in big games.
However, Las Blancas have dumped that reputation with wins over Arsenal and Barcelona in back-to-back games, and while we think that the visitors may fall short in the second leg, we think that they will do enough to protect their two-goal advantage.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
