Group 7: Home comfort for Arsenal

Arsenal LFC made full use of home advantage in UEFA Women's Cup Group 7 as they pipped Spanish contenders Levante UD to a place in the quarter-finals.

Good start
The English side, who reached the last eight last season, made a good start to their latest campaign as they beat qualifiers Gömrükçü Baku of Azerbaijan 6-0 in their opening match. Clare Wheatley and Jayne Ludlow both scored twice, Ciara Grant and Jayne Ludlow adding further goals.

Levate show form
Valencia-based Levante, unbeaten in 42 domestic matches last term, were considered the toughest of all the second seeds in the draw, and proved it against Belgian team KSC Eendracht Aalst as they won 8-0. Experienced Mar Prieto opened the scoring in the first minute and claimed a double, as did Aux Gonzales. Vanessa Gimber added a penalty but Alicia Fuentes stole the headlines with a 19-minute second-half hat-trick.

Arsenal edge key tie
This left Arsenal's meeting with Levante as the key tie. Arsenal went ahead on eleven minutes through a spectacular Ellen Maggs goal, but were pegged back five minutes later by Prieto's equaliser. Levate did have chances after this, but Arsenal took control in the second half and won the game on 62 minutes with Faye White's header. Meanwhile, Baku secured an 8-0 victory against Eendracht Aalst.

English side through
Levante ended their campaign with a 2-1 win against Baku to take second place, but Arsenal were never likely to slip up against Eendracht Aalst, and celebrated a 7-0 triumph - Ludlow scoring a hat-trick, Maggs adding two and Grant and Alex Scott getting the other goals. Arsenal now meet Russia's CSK VVS Samara in the quarter-finals.