Defending champions Arsenal withstood a late Chelsea onslaught to book their place in the women’s Champions League semi-finals despite a 1-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday to progress 3-2 on aggregate.
The damage for Matildas duo Sam Kerr and Ellie Carpenter’s Blues was done in last week’s first leg as their long wait to win the competition goes on despite their domestic dominance in England over the past decade.
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Matildas teammates Steph Catley and Caitlin Foord’s Arsenal ended an 18-year wait for an English winner of the women’s Champions League when they shocked Barcelona in last season’s final and dug deep to remain on course to defend their crown.
The Gunners kept Sonia Bompastor’s side at arm’s length until a frantic finale in which both sides should have netted multiple times.
Stina Blackstenius looked to have killed the tie off when the Swede headed in 10 minutes from time but the goal was ruled out after a VAR check for a marginal offside.
Buoyed by that let-off Chelsea suddenly sprang into life.
Lauren James stung the palms of Daphne van Domselaar and Veerle Buurman fired the rebound off the post with the goal gaping.
Moments later Van Domselaar produced an incredible stop to turn Sjoeke Nusken’s header onto the post.
At the other end Beth Mead also struck the woodwork as Arsenal threatened to take advantage of Chelsea’s desperation on the counter-attack.
When the opener finally arrived, four minutes into added time, it was too late for Chelsea.
Nusken connected sweetly to fire in at the near post from Sam Kerr’s cross.
But there was still time for more drama as Bompastor was shown a red card for two bookable offences after a hair pull on Alyssa Thompson by Katie McCabe went unpunished.
Arsenal will face either eight-time winners Lyon or Wolfsburg in the last four. The Germans lead 1-0 ahead of their second leg in France on Thursday. On the other side of the draw, Bayern Munich beat Manchester United 5-3 on aggregate and will almost certainly face Barcelona, who hold a 6-2 first-leg lead over Real Madrid, in the semi-finals.
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LATE SHOT SINKS UNITED
Bayern Munich turned the match with a quick-fire late double to beat Manchester United 2-1 at home on Wednesday and reach the women’s Champions League semi-finals, winning 5-3 on aggregate.
Melvine Malard’s early goal had the tie on track for extra time and United on course to become the first English side to win in Munich.
After peppering the United goal since Malard’s opener, Bayern broke through in emphatic fashion when Glodis Viggosdottir and Linda Dallmann both scored inside the final 10 minutes.
“We needed patience today. In the first half, we couldn’t find the solutions we needed,” Dallmann told Disney Plus.
“In the second half, we were so much better and patient on the ball.” The result ended United’s hopes of a first Champions League semi-final appearance and put Bayern on track for a likely meeting with title favourites Barcelona.
United coach Marc Skinner lamented his side’s exertions in Saturday’s 3-0 loss to derby rivals Manchester City, while Bayern cruised past lowly Nuremberg.
“The one regret I have from this is that if we had our freshness and our fit players, we could have gone toe-to-toe with them and changed that second half,” Skinner said.
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Bayern’s 3-2 win at Old Trafford, headlined by a double for childhood United fan Pernille Harder, gave the German side the advantage before the second leg.
But with 11 minutes gone, Malard made the most of a Bayern defensive mix-up to give United the lead on the night and level up the tie.
Jayde Riviere launched a ball up-field and Bayern ‘keeper Ena Mahmutovic failed to clear, allowing Malard to nab the ball and roll it into an empty net.
United held firm despite waves of Bayern pressure.
Harder forced a last-ditch save from United goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce early in the second half.
Germany captain Giulia Gwinn went close just inside the final quarter-hour. The dam finally broke after 81 minutes when Viggosdottir headed in a rebound from Bayern’s 13th corner of the match.
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Bayern took just three minutes to score again and put the result beyond doubt, Dallmann thumping an excellent effort from the edge of the box past Tullis-Joyce and into the top corner.
The win sends Bayern to the semis for the first time since 2021, where they are likely to take on Spanish champions Barcelona, who beat them 7-1 in the group stage.
“That’s football — you get to see each other again. It was a very hard lesson for us but we learned a lot,” Dallmann said.
“Now we have a second chance.” Barcelona have appeared in the past five Champions League finals, winning three. The Catalans destroyed Spanish rivals Real Madrid 6-2 in their opening quarter-final leg, with the return match on Thursday.