UEFA Women’s Champions League: Chelsea and Bayern Munich secure quarter-final places; Real Madrid is heading into the play-offs

Chelsea and Bayern Munich advanced to the quarter-finals, while Juventus and Real Madrid qualified for the Women’s Champions League play-offs as the competition phase ended with a hectic evening of nine simultaneous matches on Wednesday.

Headers from Lucy Bronze and Sam Kerr lifted Chelsea to a 2-1 victory over two-time Champions League winners Wolfsburg to move into third place behind Barcelona and OL Lyonnes after Alexandra Popp had given Wolfsburg the lead.

Chelsea became the first English team to win the league in Wolfsburg, something Bronze called ‘a good record that has finally been broken’. Kerr’s header made her the second Chelsea player to score 20 goals in the Champions League and the first Australian to achieve the feat.

“It was definitely a tough game today,” Bronze said. “It was probably one of our most difficult in the Champions League.”

Bayern recorded a 3-0 victory over Norway’s Valerenga, clinching the fourth and last direct quarter-final place and avoiding the play-off round. That seemed unlikely in October, when Bayern started the league phase with a 7-1 defeat against Barcelona.

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Bayern’s big win was only enough for the top four as Juventus and Real Madrid both made a mistake and headed into the play-off round.

Real Madrid needed Sara Däbritz’s goal deep in injury time for a 1-1 draw at Twente and finished seventh. Jess Park lifted the ball over the goalkeeper to score the only goal as Manchester United beat Juventus 1-0 to move up to sixth place and deny the Italian team, now eighth, a place in the quarter-finals.

That makes for some challenging play-off matches in February, as either Madrid or Juventus will play Wolfsburg or Paris FC. The draw is on Thursday.

Defending champion Arsenal could not secure a direct place in the quarter-finals, but did receive a more favorable placement for the play-offs in fifth place with a 3-0 victory over Belgian side OH Leuven, which still advanced to the play-offs in twelfth place thanks to the loss of Valerenga.

Canadian forward Olivia Smith scored her first Champions League goal on the rebound of her own shot to give Arsenal the lead, and Beth Mead made it 2–0 with a curling left-foot shot. Arsenal or United could be drawn against Leuven or Atletico Madrid in the February play-offs.

Barcelona and OL Lyonnes were almost assured of a place in the top two and ended the competition phase with victories.

Vicky Lopez and Caroline Graham Hansen scored smart solo goals for Barcelona in the 2-0 win over Paris FC, while Lyonnes took advantage of Atletico’s mistakes in a 4-0 win.

Lyonnes was firmly in control at halftime thanks to an own goal from Vilde Boe Risa and a red card for her Atletico teammate Luany, who was sent off for pulling Selma Bacha’s hair. Atletico qualified 11th.

Paris Saint-Germain’s winless season ended in 17th place with a 1–1 draw at Benfica. Roma defeated last-place St. Polten 6-1, but still miss out on the knockout stages.

Published on December 18, 2025