Last night, Arsenal, fresh off their victory in the inaugural FIFA Women’s Champions Cup, also finished off Belgian Women’s Super League champions OH Leuven by an aggregate score of 7-1, setting up the expected and quite massive showdown against Chelsea in the quarterfinals of this year’s UEFA Women’s Champions League.
As on the men’s side, Chelsea also got to skip a knockout round in the women’s competition, advancing directly to the quarterfinals by finishing in the top quartile of the league phase. Arsenal missed out on that by a point, but certainly had no problems in dealing with OH Leuven, winning 4-0 away in the first leg, then 3-1 at home in the second.
Given the Blues’ struggles in the league of late, there’s even greater emphasis on this competition now than in seasons past. And there’s an even greater emphasis on beating Arsenal after they came to the Bridge a few weeks ago, and walked out 2-0 winners. The second leg of this quarterfinal will be at the Bridge once again, on April 1, following the first leg, away, on either March 24 or March 25.