Arsenal & PSG Join Lyon, Barcelona, Bayern & More in Women's Champions League Quarter-Finals

​Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and Glasgow City have completed the lineup for the quarter-finals of this season’s Women’s Champions League, joining Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Wolfsburg, Bayern Munich and holders Lyon in the last eight of the competition.

Reigning WSL champions Arsenal made short work of Slavia Prague in the last 16, thrashing the Czech side 8-0 in the second leg on Thursday night. Having already won 5-2 in Prague a fortnight earlier, the Gunners ultimately prevailed 13-2 on aggregate.

Dutch internationals Vivianne Miedema and Danielle van de Donk each scored hat-tricks in the second leg, with international colleague Jill Roord and Scottish midfielder Kim Little also getting on the scoresheet on an impressive night.

Miedema had already scored four in the first leg alone and is now the competition’s top scorer this season on 10 goals, one ahead of Lyon superstar Ada Hegerberg.

Arsenal have never previously won this iteration of the Champions League, but they did win the old UEFA Women’s Cup in 2007 which it eventually replaced. The Gunners remain the only English club to date to have been crowned European champions.

PSG were finalists in 2015 and 2017 and booked their place in this season’s quarter-finals by extending an already comfortable aggregate lead over Iceland’s Breidablik. Canadian teenager Jordyn Huitema scored twice in a 3-1 win on the night, 7-1 on aggregate.

Elsewhere on Thursday, Glasgow City needed a penalty shootout to see off Brondby after a 2-2 aggregate draw – somewhat bizarrely, both sides won 2-0 away from home.

The five other last 16 ties had already been settled on Wednesday night.

Manchester City were a notable casualty in a heavyweight clash with Spanish champions Atlético Madrid. This was the second time in a row City have been knocked out by Atléti.

Reigning four-time back-to-back champions Lyon had made light work of Denmark’s Fortuna Hjorring, with Hegerberg scoring four times across the 11-0 aggregate victory. Eugenie Le Sommer got three in the tie, while England forward Nikita Parris was also among the scorers.

Barcelona, finalists for the first time in 2019, beat FC Minsk by an 8-0 aggregate margin to progress, while Bayern Munich thrashed Kazakhstan’s BIIK Kazygurt 7-0 over the two legs. Two-time winners Wolfsburg also had a 7-0 aggregate win, beating FC Twente.

It raises serious issues about a lack of depth in quality in the earlier stages of the Champions League, with six of the eight last 16 ties won by an aggregate margin of at least six goals.

The draws for the quarter-finals and semi-finals will both be made on Friday 8 November, but the action itself will now pause until the spring. The last eight ties will kick off in late March 2020, with the semi-finals taking place in late April and early May.

The 2020 Women’s Champions League final is to be played on Sunday 24 May at the Generali Arena in Vienna. Organisers will hope to see the 17,000-capacity venue full after more than 19,000 fans attended last season’s final between Lyon and Barcelona in Budapest.

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