UEFA Women's Champions League is back, with some seductive quarter -final collisions to generate our appetite.
England is the first nation with three teams in the last eight in the same season, with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City all still on the hunt for continental glory.
But those Super League parties for women are confronted with a number of bright competition, with Bayern Munich, Lyon, Real Madrid, Wolfsburg and Holders Barcelona who complete a great line-up.
Chelsea is on the edge of history while preparing for Man City in the first stage of their quarter -final draw on Wednesday. The blues are only one game removed from setting the longest undefeated series by a WSL team in all competitions. Their run is already on a stunning 31 games.
The legacy of Chelsea Boss Sonia Bompastor in this tournament is unparalleled, because she is the only coach who wins both as a manager and as a player, but it remains a competition that the blues still have to win.
However, Bompastor has an incredible first season, and if a manager wants to end the waiting for Chelsea for European glory, it will certainly be they.
With four of the eight parties that were still former champions, the caliber of teams could not get better, so let's go through all the important data prior to the tires and assessment of this week that will be at the top of the OPTA -SUPERCOMPUTER.
Real Madrid V Arsenal
This will be the very first competitive encounter between Real Madrid and Arsenal, with the Spanish giants at home for the first stage on Tuesday.
Both teams have specific continental records that they would like to tackle. For Las Blancas they are Winless in six earlier meetings with English parties in the UWCL, all of whom came to Chelsea (D2 L4).
However, the Gunners did not succeed in winning their last three-out matches in the knockout phase of the competition (D1 L2), not winning a Road Knockout collision since the 2019-2020 season when they defeated Slavia Prague in the Tour of 16.
Arsenal, however, are regulars in the last stages of Europe. The Gunners and Lyon are in the last eight for a Joint record 16th time and Arsenal each won of their last five games in the competition, their joint-long winning series ever (also reached from September 2012-March 2013).
They have found their shape among Renee-butchers, in which they banned the memory of their 5-2 loss for Bayern on MatchDay, when Jonas Eidevall was still in charge.
Madrid will pose a major threat, and Signe Bruun has been directly involved in more goals than any other player in the UWCL so far this season with eight, after he has scored five goals and added three assists. That is already the most target involvement in a single edition of the competition recorded by a Madrid player.
Only Barcelona (26) scored more goals than Madrid (20) in this season's group stage, while only Barca (+7.9) surpassed their expected goals with more than Las Blancas (13.6 XG, +6.4 XG performance).
The biggest threat of the Gunners will probably be Mariona Caldentey.
Only Lyon's Lindsey Heaps (162) has completed more passes in the last third part of the field than Caldentey (160) in the competition of this season.
The Spain International has also found the net with an excellent 50% of its shots (four of the eight), the most clinical finish for each player with at least three goals to their name.
The OPTA -SUPERCOMMUTER predicts that it will go for the Gunners. Arsenal built a lead on the first leg in 52.0% of our simulations, with the draw a worthy candidate at 23.1% and the chance of winning of Madrid with 24.9%
Bayern Munich against Lyon
Lyon has won their last six UWCL Knockout podium tires with German opposition (including three finals) because they were eliminated in the round of 16 in 2013-14 by 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam.
Lyon, the most successful club in the history of the competition and will be confident to go into this draw.
Lyon was only three minutes behind the group stage of this season and admitted only one goal.
The French giants have only lost one of their last 43 away in the knockout phases of the competition (W35 D7).
Bayern, on the other hand, has lost two of their three meetings in the competition with Lyon, although they won their most recent, 1-0 at home in the group stage of 2021-22.
Lyon came at the top in 46.8% of the data-conducted simulations of the supercomputer. Bayern, who did not win the Champions League, have a 28.7% chance of making an advantage in the second stage.
Although they can be underdogs, Bayern has a number of excellent attackers to appeal to, and in particular, Pernille harder. She scored 10 goals during her last six quarter -final performances in this competition, so she knows for sure where the net is in this phase of the tournament.
Indeed, Harder and Lyon's Ada Hegerberg have looted the most goals in the Champions League Knock phase (13).
One Area Bayern will have to be particularly strong if they continue from this draw of SET pieces. Lyon has scored nine goals from the corners in the competition of this season, more than any other team.
Wolfsburg V Barcelona
This will be the first meeting between Wolfsburg and Barcelona in the UWCL since the final of 2022-23, when Barca came from 2-0 to win the peace with 3-2 in Eindhoven. T
Wolfsburg is advanced from three of their last four quarter-final tires in the UCWL and progressed past Paris Saint-Germain in their most recent in 2022-23; Only Lyon (13 times) has reached the semi -final of the competition more often than Wolfsburg (eight times.)
Conversely, Barcelona originated from each of their last 16 two-legged knock-out stage tires in the competition, because they were eliminated by Lyon in the quarterfinals 2017-18.
Only Lyon (Runs of 17 and 20) once merged such stripes in the history of the competition for longer.
So how does our supercomputer see this?
You may think that this would be a close call, but the Opta model actually gives Barcelona the greatest chance of winning each team in the first first legs, with 58.5%. The draw, with 21.2%, is once a little more chance than a victory in Wolfsburg (20.3%).
Wolfsburg and Barcelona had more shots than all other teams in the group stage – combined they had 299 attempts (152 for Wolfsburg, 147 for FCB). So expect a lot of TargetMouth promotion, with some great attackers on show.
The Alexandra Popp from Wolfsburg has had more attempts (26) than any other player in the Champions League – she has scored four goals.
And let's not forget Ballon d'Or Winner Aitana Bossi, who has been directly involved in 28 goals in 28 UWCL matches (13 goals, 15 assists) in 28 goals in 28 goals.
Barca wants to be Lyon's record of reaching five consecutive finals (between 2016 and 2020). They also strive to become the second club after Lyon to win three titles in a row.
Manchester City against Chelsea
This is the second of four collisions between these WSL rivals in the room of 12 days, over three games.
It is advantage of Chelsea after their 2-1 victory in the Women's League Cup final on Saturday-one late own goal of Yui Hasegawa that Bompastor sees her first piece of silverware as Blues Boss.
This will only be the second UWCL band between two English parties after Birmingham City Arsenal has eliminated 2013-14 in the quarterfinals.
City has only won one of their last eight home games against Chelsea in all competitions (D3, L4), a 2-0 win in the WSL in March 2023. The most recent meeting between the couple for the fans saw the blues win 1-0 in the semi-final of the League Cup of last season.
This season, Chelsea has spent more time in a leading position in the UWCL than any other team (474 minutes). The blues also have the best 100% progression speed in the quarter -final phase of the competition (5/5) and reach the semi -final in the last two campaigns.
Keira Walsh is heading against her former club and has seamlessly thrown in in Chelsea since her January. Only two midfielders have a better fitting accuracy in the UWCL than Walsh (93.0%) this season; The international of England finished on the losing side in just two of its last 22 performances in the competition (W18 D2).
Aoba Fujino is certainly a player who must stay under lock and key. She has scored or helped five of City's last nine Champions League goals (two goals, three assists). This season she has also beaten the opponent of the woodwork than any other player (three), and scored the goal of the city in the League Cup final.
The OPTA Supercomputer predicts a sleek encounter, which is most likely that the level ends in the four games this week.
Chelsea, with a record-firm 32nd unbeaten game firmly in their visor, gets a chance of 43.6% to win, with the draw a chance of 25.2% while they offer to write history. They are currently the same as their own unbeaten record for a WSL team, in September 2020.
But those opportunities also mean that the city is more often than not to avoid the defeat in the opening leg, because they get a chance of 56.4% to do this. While Chelsea is seen as the most likely victors on Wednesday, City has a relatively healthy chance of winning of 31.2%.
The four-fold has started for Chelsea, which leads the WSL table comfortably and has already secured one trophy, but this double header that on either side of a competition meeting with the team of Nick Cushing is a real litmus test.
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