UEFA Women’s Champions League: Bayern through to quarter-finals | OneFootball

FC Bayern Munich only dropped points to Liga F sides Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in the Women’s Champions League this season, and they also saw off Vålerenga with absolute ease. Momoko Tanikawa, who was the star performer in the last home game against Arsenal, opened the floodgates inside the first 90 seconds.

The hosts doubled their lead with a solo effort from Stine Ballisager in the 11th minute. The Danish center-back was completely unchallenged when she dribbled her way into the final third, and struck a well-placed shot from outside the box. Bayern should’ve been out of sight before the second-half, but Tove Enblom had a superb half with multiple saves.

That included Georgia Stanway’s penalty-kick miss in the 34th minute. Bayern also failed to convert from 12 yards in the 2-2 draw with Atlético Madrid when Giulia Gwinn was unable to hit the target. In addition to Stanway, who wore the captain’s armband in the absence of Glódís Viggósdóttir, Pernille Harder and Klara Bühl were unable to convert clear-cut chances in a dominant half by Bayern.

The story was pretty much similar after the restart. With Herbert Hainer, Max Eberl, and Vincent Kompany in attendance, Bayern continued to create chance after chance. Vålerenga started the night with a slight chance of making the knockout stage, but they were nowhere near Bayern’s quality. The Norwegian team put in a much better effort than this earlier in the competition when Wolfsburg needed a late winner on matchday two.

However, the result wasn’t up for debate even before the third goal. Bühl provided the assist once again as Harder netted her fifth goal of the Champions League season with a free header. Gwinn and Arianna Caruso combined for Bayern’s fourth goal after coming on as substitutes, but the Italian’s header was chalked off for offside after a VAR check. The Frauen-Bundesliga leaders could’ve won the game by a similar margin to their embarrassing defeat in Barcelona, but three goals were more than enough at the end.

Bayern finished fourth in the league phase, which will see them directly join the quarter-finals alongside Barcelona, Lyon, and Chelsea. The draw for both the playoff round and the last eight will be made on Thursday. The first-leg of the quarter-finals will be played in the last midweek of March 2026.