Road to Munich resumes
Monday, March 12, 2012
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The quarter-final first legs begin on Wednesday with Olympique Lyonnais continuing their defence and 1. FFC Frankfurt and 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam dreaming of the Munich decider.
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Four months after booking their places in the UEFA Women's Champions League quarter-finals, the contenders begin their last-eight ties this week.
Three of the first legs are on Wednesday and include holders Olympique Lyonnais welcoming Brøndby IF. Yet to resume their domestic campaign, Brøndby are facing a Lyon side who have appeared in the last four quarter-finals – and won every time, though the Danish club did get a 0-0 draw at Stade de Gerland in a 2007/08 group game.
Awaiting the winners of that tie in the semi-finals could be the side Lyon beat in last year's London decider – and lost to 12 months earlier in Getafe – 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam. The German champions welcome FC Rossiyanka on Wednesday, the Russian side, under new coach Farid Benstiti, hoping to improve on their previous quarter-final in 2007/08 when they lost 2-1 on aggregate to 1. FFC Frankfurt.
Sole three-time champions Frankfurt are themselves in action on Thursday when they travel to play Sweden's FC Malmö, who they knocked out in the 2003/04 semi-finals and are now coached by Peter Moberg. Before that, on Wednesday afternoon, 2007 winners Arsenal LFC, fresh from welcoming back Kelly Smith and Alex Scott, are at home to Sweden's Göteborg FC, whose debut campaign has so far consisted of four perfect victories.
The second legs are played next week, with the semi-finals on 14/15 and 21/22 April. The final, at Munich's Olympiastadion, is on 17 May, two days before the men's UEFA Champions League showpiece in the same city. An all-German tie between Frankfurt and Potsdam remains a possibility.
Road to Munich
Quarter-finals (14 & 21 March)
1: FC Malmö (SWE)* v 1. FFC Frankfurt (GER)
2: Olympique Lyonnais (FRA, holders) v Brøndby IF (DEN)
3: 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam (GER) v FC Rossiyanka (RUS)**
4: Arsenal LFC (ENG) v Göteborg FC (SWE)
*First leg 15 March
**Second leg 22 March
Semi-finals (14/15 and 21/22 April)
1: Lyon or Brøndby v Potsdam or Rossiyanka
2: Arsenal or Göteborg v Malmö or Frankfurt
Final (17 May, Olympiastadion, Munich)
Winner semi-final 1 v Winner semi-final 2
