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As it stands: Barcelona, OL Lyonnes, Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg are in the top four. Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea are in fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.
Wolfsburg 1-0 Chelsea: The visitors with their best chance of the game from Kerr, but she can’t find enough power for a finish as she is tackled right before taking the shot.
Roma 1-0 St. Pölten: Rinsola Babajide picks up a loose ball before releasing Alayah Pilgrim, who slots the ball under the onrushing keeper.
GOAL! Juventus 0-1 Manchester United (Park 18)
The goal rush continues and what a shot from Jess Park. She takes two touches before arrowing the ball at the far post from the edge of the box.
GOAL! Leuven 0-1 Arsenal (Smith 18)
Olivia Smith weaves her way in from the left between some white shirts. Her first go is saved but she reacts quickly and tucks the rebound into the top corner.
GOAL! Wolfsburg 1-0 Chelsea (Popp 16)
Popp takes advantage of a poor ball clearance to give her side a lead! Livia Peng’s ball out is poor and Popp easily rolls Keira Walsh before scoring a quick half-volley. Fantastic goal!
Just like that Wolfsburg leap over Chelsea in the table and are in the top four.
Wolfsburg 0-0 Chelsea: Alex Popp leaps over Lucy Bronze for a cross but her header is wide!
Juventus 0-0 Manchester United: The hosts are defending very high up the pitch, giving United a bit of space in behind to attack.
Bayern Munich 2-0 Vålerenga: The hosts double their lead after Stine Ballisager curls a fine effort around from the edge of the box.
Wolfsburg 0-0 Chelsea: It has been scrappy at Wolfsburg so far. Millie Bright gets booked for an unnecessary tackle on Kessya Bussy.
Leuven 0-0 Arsenal: Close! Olivia Smith floats a great cross for Alessia Russo at the far post, but the header is straight at the keeper.
Benfica 0-1 PSG: Jennifer Echegini wins the ball back and speeds forward. She finds some space with a drop of the shoulder before scoring with a low shot from the edge of the box.
Twente 0-0 Real Madrid: The visitors had the ball in the back of the net but it has been disallowed by VAR for an offside in the buildup.
Bayern Munich 1-0 Vålerenga: An early goal in Munich! Jovana Damnjanović’s effort is blocked but the ball lands at the feet of Franziska Kett, who lays it off to Momoko Tanikawa and she slides it home.
Leuven 0-0 Arsenal: We have a sold-out crowd at Den Dreef which is a new record attendance for Belgian women’s football. Plenty of noise from the home support and the travelling Arsenal crowd have a lot to compete with.
Kick-offs across the grounds
The referees blow their whistles across Europe and we are underway!
Kick-off is fast approaching. Here is a reminder to all nine games that I will be (attempting) to keep tabs on.
Wolfsburg v Chelsea
Juventus v Manchester United
OH Leuven v Arsenal
Paris FC v Barcelona
OL Lyonnes v Atlético Madrid
Twente v Real Madrid
Benfica v Paris Saint-Germain
Bayern v Vålerenga
Roma v St. Pölten
Manchester United have already bettered their best season in Europe, having failed to qualify last season and reaching the second round of qualifying in 2023-24.
Marc Skinner’s side are unlikely to land in an automatic quarter-final spot but three points against Juventus today would be crucial in their hopes of securing a seeded place in the knockout playoffs.
Chelsea sit third in the table going into the final game. Last year’s semi-finalists are two points behind Barcelona and Lyon, both on 13 points.
Sonia Bompastor’s side are unbeaten in the competition and have only conceded two goals (in draws with Twente and Barcelona). They are in pole position to finish in one of the automatic qualification spots regardless of their result today against the two-time champions and last year’s quarter-finalists Wolfsburg.
Arsenal are the defending Champions League winners but it has not always looked like it. Currently in eighth, Renée Slegers’ team is heading for the playoff round, barring a miracle. They will be the heavy favourites at Leuven but unless rivals slip up, the reward for beating the Belgian team is likely to be only a more favourable seeding.
One potential outcome would be facing Leuven again in the round of 16 rather than tougher potential opponents like United or Paris FC.
Team news: Manchester United XI to face Juventus
Manchester United: Tullis-Joyce, Le Tissier, Janssen, George, Sandberg, Naalsund, Miyazawa, Park, Malard, Terland, Rolfö.
Subs: Middleton-Patel, Rendell, Blundell, Zigiotti Olme, Awujo, Toone, Galton, Williams.
Team news: Chelsea XI to face Wolfsburg
Chelsea: Peng, Bronze, Bright, Girma, Carpenter, Walsh, Cuthbert, Baltimore, Thompson, James, Kerr.
Subs: Hampton, Charles, Buurman, Nusken, Reiten, Kaptein, Rytting Kaneryd, Hamano, Jean-Francois, Potter, Beever-Jones.
Team news: Arsenal XI to face Leuven
Arsenal: Borbe, Hinds, Wubben-Moy, Catley, McCabe, Cooney-Cross, Little, Mariona, Mead, Smith, Russo.
Subs: Liddiard, Fox, Williamson, Codina, Harwood, Maanum, Foord, Blackstenius.
Ten teams have secured a spot in the playoffs at least, including the three English sides: Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United.
But today we will know who will secure an automatic quarter-final spot with only four points separating the teams in first and ninth.
We will get to how each English team looks heading into their respective matches but first … team news.
Preamble
It is all to play for in the last games of the Women’s Champions League league stage. Teams who finish in the top four after today’s games will book their spot straight into the quarter-finals, teams that fall from fifth to twelfth place will enter a two-leg knockout playoff and teams in 13th to 18th are eliminated.
All of the nine fixtures will kick-off simultaneously at 8pm GMT.
Wolfsburg v Chelsea
Juventus v Manchester United
OH Leuven v Arsenal
Paris FC v Barcelona
OL Lyonnes v Atlético Madrid
Twente v Real Madrid
Benfica v Paris Saint-Germain
Bayern v Vålerenga
Roma v St. Pölten
