UWCL talking points: French domination, Final Four confirmed،
The 2023-24 Women's Champions League comes down to the final four. With the quarter-finals split between the group winners and group runners-up, it wasn't much of a surprise to see Europe's biggest teams seal their place in the latter stages.
Lyon, eight times winner, goes ahead Benfica 6-2 on aggregate, despite being reigning champions Barcelona won SK Brann 5-2.
Then we saw Chelsea punishes Ajax for a poor performance in the first leg and came away with a 4-1 victory, with Paris Saint-Germain takes last place with 5-1 victory Swedish surprise pack BK Häcken
We asked our writers Sophie Lawson, Julien Laurens and Emily Keogh to answer some of our burning questions from the quarter-finals.
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Semi-finals:
April 20-21: Barcelona vs Chelsea and Lyon vs Paris Saint-Germain
April 27-28: Chelsea versus Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain versus Lyon
1. What struck you the most during the two quarter-finals?
Lawson: Over the 180 minutes of each home-and-away match, the disparity was clear and you can determine where each match strayed from the unseeded teams. However, when you consider that Benfica, SK Brann, Ajax and BK Häcken were all expected to finish third or fourth in their respective groups, and all four were venturing into new territory in the round of 16 with smaller numbers on paper than their seasoned opponents, the way the four “minnows” performed was admirable.
None of the four players backed down from the magnitude of the task in front of them and all found a way to play their game, while managing to score against some of the most tenacious defenses in Europe.
Laurent: The inevitability of the results and the current dominance of Europe's top four teams was clear. Chelsea, Barcelona, PSG and Lyon are ahead of everyone in the competition and they showed it in these quarter-finals.
With seven wins and one draw (Chelsea drew 1-1 against Ajax after winning the first leg 3-0), it was a walk in the park and there was nothing the unseeded teams could do.
Keogh: How controlled and direct Ajax and SK Brann were at times. Facing Chelsea and Barcelona, both would have been aware they were facing two of the toughest opponents in the quarter-finals, but nonetheless showed a fight and determination that left fans wondering if it would be the moment when an underdog would become victorious. . Although that story will have to wait for another day, the enthusiasm they brought during the round of 16 stood out.
2. Which underdog team impressed you the most?
Keogh: It would have to be Ajax. Getting out of Group C ahead of Bayern Munich and Roma was not easy and the Dutch side had several chances to open the scoring against Chelsea in the first leg of the quarter-final but lacked clinical finishing. They will have learned a lot from the way Chelsea showed patience in weathering the storm and dealing with pressure.
Heading into the second leg trailing 3-0, it would have been easy for such a young team to feel discouraged knowing they needed a miracle to advance to the semi-finals. Ajax didn't make it easy for Chelsea though and had constant chances which caught the Blues off guard and finished with a respectable 1-1 draw – a mammoth result for them.
Compared to where Ajax were in the qualifiers last season, the growth and development they have shown since then means they are now one of the best teams in Europe.
Lawson: Benfica probably managed to control their match against Lyon better than the other underdogs did in theirs. The Portuguese champions were motivated in both matches, but between fatigue and the inability to cope with Lyon's replacements, they quickly faded in both matches.
Ajax showed real character in their second leg against Chelsea as they corrected much of what went wrong in their home game, while Häcken were better at home and, apart from two errors that cost him a 2-1 defeat against PSG, managed his first draw. play well.
And although Brann eventually escaped a draw against Barcelona, midfielder Signe Gaupset continued to impress and goalkeeper Aurora Mikalsen produced one of the performances of her career in the first leg.
Laurent: All the favorites came out quite comfortably. However, Benfica was the most impressive against Lyon. They took the home advantage in the first leg and were ahead until the hour mark. Despite losing 2-1 in the first match, they were tied 1-1 at the break in the second leg and finished the match with more possession and more completed passes than the French champions, which never happens in Lyon.
Despite a 6-2 defeat in both matches, the Portuguese champions showed their progress and left the competition with their heads held high.
3. After two French teams reached the semi-finals, is France the best place for women's football in Europe?
Laurent: Jean-Michel Aulas, the former Lyon owner who did so much for women's football on all fronts and who is today at the head of women's football in France, declared last week that he wanted to make Division 1 Women (D1F) the best championship in the world. We're not there yet and there's a lot of work to do to surpass the English Women's Super League and the American NWSL, but progress is clear.
The presence of Lyon and PSG in the Champions League semi-final proves it. They will face each other in the semi-final, meaning France is guaranteed to have a club in the final. And with the emergence of French football's third force, Paris FC, knocking out giants Arsenal and Wolfsburg in the Champions League qualifiers earlier this season, the momentum is super positive.
Lawson: In a word: No. Lyon has been a women's football powerhouse for almost two decades, and in that time the landscape has evolved a lot. The French giants have helped pave the way to the professional world, but there are other teams who can offer players the same standards that have kept Lyon at the forefront for so long, and the local league is full of disparities.
As Jules points out, Aulas wants to push the boundaries with the D1F, potentially breaking the Lyon/PSG duopoly and ushering in an era of professionalism across the division. But as things stand, even with women's football heavyweight Lyon in the lead, the D1F is not a destination league.
Keogh: On paper, France certainly appears to be leading the pack in the Champions League, at least this season. But last season there were two English teams in the semi-finals. UWCL is an ever-changing climate.
Lyon have been a powerhouse for so long, while PSG have tried to emulate the men's team's success without much success. One thing is certain: there will be a French team in the final. From a broader perspective, with Paris FC's triumph to reach the group stage, France is certainly among the best in terms of development and history of the competition. However, the structural integrity of the league and the sustainability of recent growth will have to be judged in the seasons to come.
