Hard fought win against Real Madrid puts Arsenal in UWCL play-off spot | OneFootball

Arsenal came from behind to beat Real Madrid 2-1 thanks to an Alessia Russo headed brace, meaning they climb up the 18-team table to tenth place.

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

With the new UEFA Women’s Champions League formula, the top-four teams qualify directly for the quarter-finals.

Teams ranked from fifth to eighth are seeded for the play-offs, teams ranked from ninth to twelfth are unseeded in the play-offs and the teams ranked below twelfth are eliminated.

The first five teams have confirmed their progress from the league phase of the 2025/26 UEFA Women’s Champions League. Barcelona, Wolfsburg, Manchester United and Bayern München have joined OL Lyonnes in being confirmed in the quarter-finals or knockout phase play-offs.

At the bottom of the table, Paris Saint-Germain have nil point after four games. They are paying the price for years of erratic recruitment alongside big-name departures and now have a weakened and heterogenous team. Sankt Polten, Roma and Benfica have one point and will also probably struggle to reach the play-off unseeded places.

Having to play the play-offs is not good news, as the first block of games after the winter break could mean playing up to 12 games in 43 days including the first ever FIFA Womens Champions Cup finals taking place in London.

Hard fought win against Real Madrid puts Arsenal in UWCL play-off spot 4

We have seen how the team has struggled in the first block of the season that had seven games in 40 days, so unless rotation is done properly and players perform, it might end up as an extremely tricky period.

Arsenal will have no choice but to hit the ground running if they want to have a go at the four remaining competitions they still can win, as I do not think they can catch up seven points on City in normal circumstances.

It’s now time for the international break and we can only hope that no players come back injured from international duty, as the five remaining games before the Christmas break are basically all must-win games.