Brøndby pleased with progress

Brøndby IF are celebrating reaching the UEFA Women's Cup quarter-finals for a fourth time and are pleased to have avoided a rematch with holders Arsenal LFC.

Avoiding Arsenal
After drawing 0-0 with second qualifying round Group B4 hosts Olympique Lyonnais in their opening game, Brøndby beat AC Sparta Praha 2-1 and fellow 2006/07 semi-finalists Kolbotn IL 1-0 to finish dead level with the French team in first place. That meant a draw was needed to decide the top two positions, and Brøndby were successful, meaning they will meet ASD CF Bardolino Verona rather than Arsenal, who defeated them 5-2 on aggregate in the last four a year ago having already gained a 1-0 success in the second qualifying round. Brøndby midfielder Cathrine Paaske Sørensen told uefa.com: "Arsenal were definitely the opponents we feared the most in advance. We do not exactly have a good record against them."

Pleasing results
Brøndby's group was considered the toughest of the four played last week, so the results pleased Paaske Sørensen. "It was a great result for us to start with a goalless draw against the hosts Olympique Lyonnais, who have a very strong team," the Denmark player said. "I think that match was equal, perhaps with a slight dominance from us, and we also did OK against Sparta Praha, who we defeated 2-1 - and I think we did really well in the key match against Norwegian side Kolbotn. With ten internationals in our squad we should obviously be able to go on from the group stage, and finishing first in our group was, of course, very important to us, as it meant that we avoided Arsenal in the quarter-finals."

Italian test
Paaske Sørensen and her team-mates will visit Bardolino in mid-November before a home return the following week. "I do not know a lot about the Verona team we are going to meet in the quarter-final but they have internationals in their team too, and we should be warned by the fact that they drew 3-3 against Arsenal in the group stage," Paaske Sørensen said. "However, I think we have a good chance against them and I see it as a great advantage for us that we start away."