Women’s Champions League draw: Arsenal to face Chelsea if they win Leuven playoff | OneFootball

Arsenal, the defending European champions, will face Chelsea in the Women’s Champions League quarter-finals if they progress past OH Leuven in February’s knockout phase playoffs.

Manchester United, who will meet Atlético Madrid in their playoff tie, are in the opposite half of the draw and would take on Bayern Munich if they go through.

All three English sides knew before Thursday’s draw they could not meet either of the top two sides, Barcelona and OL Lyonnes, before the semi-finals thanks to away victories on Wednesday that clinched places in the top six. Arsenal’s came at Leuven, where Olivia Smith and Beth Mead scored before an own goal completed the 3-0 win over the team they will face again.

The draw mapped out the potential pathway for every side hoping to reach the final in Oslo on 23 May. Last season’s runners-up Barcelona, who topped the table in the league phase, could face a clásico against Real Madrid in the last eight and are the seeded team in the half of the draw which includes United. Madrid and Paris FC meet in the playoffs.

United’s playoff tie is, like Arsenal’s, a reunion with a team they beat away from home in the league phase. Marc Skinner’s team were 1-0 winners against Atlético Madrid in October, on a night when both teams had a player sent off.

Arsenal or Chelsea could face OL Lyonnes, the record eight-time European champions, in the semi-finals, although the French side face a tricky-looking quarter-final against Wolfsburg or Juventus, who meet in the most intriguing of the playoff fixtures.

Under the new format the top four sides in the league phase – Barcelona, OL Lyonnes, Chelsea and Bayern Munich – progressed automatically to the quarter-finals and the next eight sides are in the playoffs.

Arsenal and United will be at home for the second legs of their playoffs, having been seeded for the round. The first legs will be played on 11 or 12 February and the second legs on 18 or 19 February. The quarter-finals get under way in March.

Chelsea fought from a goal down to win at Wolfsburg on Wednesday and secure their top-four spot.

Header image: [Photograph: Jill Delsaux/Belga/AFP/Getty Images]