Women's Champions League round 2: Celtic, Arsenal, Hammarby, Juventus, Galatasaray, Wolfsburg among winners
Thursday, September 26, 2024
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The group stage line-up has been confirmed after round 2 was completed on Thursday.
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The UEFA Women's Champions League group stage line-up is complete after round 2 concluded on Thursday.
Juventus knocked out Paris Saint-Germain while Arsenal overturned a first-leg deficit to progress, Real Madrid survived an early scare, Roma and St. Pölten eased to group stage returns and Celtic and Twente made it for the first time.
On Wednesday, debut pair Galatasaray and Hammarby, former champions Wolfsburg, and Vålerenga were the first teams through to join automatic group stage entrants Barcelona, Lyon, Bayern München and Chelsea in the draw at 13:00 CET on Friday.
Group stage contenders
Pot 1: Barcelona (ESP, holders), Lyon (FRA), Bayern München (GER), Chelsea (ENG)
Pot 2: Wolfsburg (GER), Arsenal (ENG), Real Madrid (ESP), Manchester City (ENG)
Pot 3: Juventus (ITA), St. Pölten (AUT), Roma (ITA), Twente (NED)
Pot 4: Vålerenga (NOR), Celtic (SCO), Hammarby (SWE), Galatasaray (TUR)
The 15 teams that went through from the round 1 finals were joined by nine clubs beginning at this stage: Häcken, Hammarby, Juventus, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Wolfsburg, Real Madrid, Roma and Slavia Praha.
Second legs
Paris Saint-Germain 1-2 Juventus (agg: 2-5)
Juvenuts missed out on the group stage last season but now have prevented Paris Saint-Germain from getting there for the first time. Sofia Cantore struck early to extend Juve's aggregate lead and although Romée Leuchter's penalty early in the second half gave the home team hope, Barbara Bonansea settled matters.
Arsenal 4-0 Häcken (agg: 4-1)
Until Hammarby at Benfica on Wednesday night, no team had ever overturned a first-leg deficit to progress in a Women's Champions League qualifier but another Swedish side were the victims this time as Lia Wälti, Mariona Caldentey, Beth Mead and Frida Maanum took Arsenal back to the group stage after missing out last season.
Real Madrid 3-1 Sporting CP (agg: 5-2)
Madrid are the only club to have got to the group stage from this round in all four seasons under the format. Although Sporting's Ana Capeta levelled the aggregate score on five minutes, Sandie Toletti quickly replied and added another after half-time before substitute Alba Redondo's clincher.
Celtic 2-0 Vorskla Poltava (agg: 3-0)
Emma Lawton, a former Celtic trainee who only rejoined from Partick Thistle two weeks ago, scored along with another summer signing Shannon McGregor to ensure Celtic became the first Scottish club to reach the group stage.
Servette FCCF 2-7 Roma (agg: 3-10)
Roma kept up their record of reaching the group stage on all three of their entries, among their scorers Saki Kumagai on the night where she became the first non-European to reach 90 appearances in this competition.
Manchester City 3-0 Paris FC (agg: 8-0)
Chloe Kelly struck early and Kadija Shaw scored twice as City made sure of their long-awaited group debut against a club that made their own bow in that round last season.
Twente 4-0 Osijek (agg: 8-1)
Twente eased through to emulate last season's Dutch group debutants Ajax, Kayleigh van Dooren getting her fourth goal of the campaign, the joint best in qualifying this season.
Mura 0-5 St. Pölten (agg: 0-8)
Valentina Mädl's two early goals ended any realistic hopes of a Mura comeback and St. Pölten's progress to a third straight group stage was capped late on when Mateja Zver scored against the club where she spent 14 years in her native Slovenia.
Benfica 0-2 Hammarby (agg: 2-3)
Hammarby saw a lead overturned by last season's quarter-finalists a week ago but Julie Blakstad struck on 16 minutes in Lisbon and deep in added time Cathinka Tandberg scored to make the debutants the first team ever to win a Women's Champions League qualifier after losing the opening leg.
Slavia Praha 1-2 Galatasaray (aet, agg: 3-4)
Three-time quarter-finalists Slavia came back from two down last week with a last-gasp equaliser but in the return it was European newcomers Galatasaray that overcame a deficit to force extra time, and just three minutes after being brought on, Nazlican Parlak scored to ensure Türkiye's first group stage participation.
Wolfsburg 5-0 Fiorentina (agg: 12-0)
Two-time champions Wolfsburg were able to make nine changes from their 7-0 win in Italy and still ease to a second victory and a group stage return after missing out in 2023/24. Vivien Endemann scored twice and substitute Tabea Sellner (formerly Wassmuth) was on target late on nine minutes into her first match for more than a year following maternity leave.
Vålerenga 3-0 Anderlecht (agg: 5-1)
Thea Bjelde's thumping finish with 20 minutes to go followed by goals from Janni Thomsen and first-leg scorer Karina Sævik to earn Vålerenga a debut in the last 16 for the first time in any format.
First legs
Vorskla Poltava 0-1 Celtic
Murphy Agnew struck in the fifth minute with a neat turn and finish from just inside the box to put Celtic ahead in their bid to became the first Scottish side to reach the group stage. This leg was played, like the return, in Airdrie, Scotland.
Sporting CP 1-2 Real Madrid
Melanie Leupolz scored deep into added time on her European debut for Madrid. Sporting, fresh from knocking out four-time champions Frankfurt in round 1, had equalised when Andreia Bravo's penalty just before half-time cancelled out Athenea del Castillo's opener.
Galatasaray 2-2 Slavia Praha
Andrea Stašková scored in both round 1 games for new club Galatasaray and the former Sparta Praha player struck twice in the second half for the European debutants against her Czech compatriots. However, Tereza Szewieczková pulled one back and, with the last touch of the game, Barbora Polcarová headed an equaliser for Slavia, who were aiming to make the group stage for the third straight season.
St. Pölten 3-0 Mura
Also aiming for a third consecutive group berth, the Austrian champions were put in a strong position for the return in Slovenia thanks to second-half goals by Kamila Dubcová, substitute Melike Pekel and Izabela Križaj.
Juventus 3-1 Paris Saint-Germain
Having reached at least the quarter-finals for the last six seasons, Paris left themselves facing a tough task to keep up their ever-present group stage record, with Cantore's solo goal the highlight of Juve's display.
Häcken 1-0 Arsenal
Tabitha Tindell scored with 13 minutes left for 2023/24 quarter-finalists Häcken, seeking a third group spot in four years. Arsenal had most of the play, hitting the woodwork twice.
Paris FC 0-5 Manchester City
Man City put themselves on course for a group debut, set on their way by two memorable first-half goals as Jess Park finished off a brilliant team move and then, on her competitive City debut, Vivianne Miedema produced an acrobatic volley against the team that knocked out Arsenal and Wolfsburg in qualifying last year.
Hammarby 1-2 Benfica
The 12,062 crowd, a competition record for qualifying in any format, were thrilled as Blakstad gave the European debutants an early lead, but Cristina Martin-Prieto and Andreia Norton struck either side of half-time.
Fiorentina 0-7 Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg all but assured themselves of avoiding a second straight exit at this stage, with Alex Popp scoring a hat-trick on her 98th European appearance to reach 35 goals in the competition.
Roma 3-1 Servette FCCF
Two goals in the last five minutes by substitute Evelyne Viens left Roma well placed to make the group stage for the third time in as many entries.
Osijek 1-4 Twente
Twente took a big lead following a burst of second-half goals in Croatia, the pick Alieke Tuin's superb first-time chip to make it 2-1.
Anderlecht 1-2 Vålerenga
Vålerenga gave themselves a lead to take back to Norway thanks to early goals by Michaela Dominique Kovacs (who was later sent off) and Karina Sævik.
Team guide
• Wolfsburg and Arsenal (who both lost to Paris FC in qualifying last year) have one title each, while Paris Saint-Germain have twice reached the final.
• Paris Saint-Germain lost in last season's semi-finals; Benfica and Häcken reached the quarters.
• Manchester City and Paris FC (in their previous guise of Juvisy) have got to the semi-finals. Real Madrid, Roma and Slavia are past quarter-finalists.
• Benfica, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid aim to keep up their record of reaching the group stage every season since its 2021/22 introduction, which Barcelona, Bayern, Chelsea and Lyon are already assured of doing.
• Further clubs hoping to return after featuring in last season's group stage are Paris FC, Roma, Slavia and St. Pölten. Arsenal and Servette have also previously contested the post-2021/22 group stage. Fiorentina and Twente made the last 16 in the old knockout format.
• Hammarby are making their debut, while Galatasaray played their first UEFA competition games in round 1.
• Celtic and Sporting had never previously got through a round in Europe. Anderlecht, Mura, Osijek, Vålerenga and Vorskla Poltava are also bidding to make the last 16 for the first time.
• Belgium, Croatia, Scotland, Slovenia and Türkiye have never been represented in the post-2021/22 group stage.
• Twente beat Osijek 4-0 in the 2013/14 qualifying round.
• Wolfsburg beat Fiorentina 7-3 on aggregate in the 2017/18 round of 32.
• Arsenal beat Häcken (then known as Göteborg) 3-2 on aggregate in the 2011/12 quarter-finals, coming back from 2-0 down overall early in the second leg. Arsenal signed Häcken's Rosa Kafaji this summer.
• St. Pölten's Mateja Zver spent 14 years at Mura under their previous guise of Pomurje.
Which path is each tie in?
The round 2 draw was split into two paths: the champions path (with 14 teams competing for seven group places) and the league path (ten teams competing for five group spots). Both consist of two-legged ties.
Champions path
St. Pölten vs Mura
Benfica vs Hammarby*
Osijek vs Twente
Galatasaray vs Slavia Praha
Roma vs Servette FCCF
Anderlecht vs Vålerenga
Vorskla Poltava vs Celtic
*Order of ties switched from draw.
League path
Sporting CP vs Real Madrid
Juventus vs Paris Saint-Germain
Paris FC vs Manchester City
Fiorentina vs Wolfsburg
Häcken vs Arsenal
Season calendar
Group stage draw
27 September, Nyon
Group stage
Matchday 1: 8/9 October
Matchday 2: 16/17 October
Matchday 3: 12/13 November
Matchday 4: 20/21 November
Matchday 5: 11/12 December
Matchday 6: 17/18 December
Quarter-final & semi-final draw
7 February, Nyon
Quarter-finals
First leg: 18/19 March
Second leg: 26/27 March
Semi-finals
First leg: 19/20 April
Second leg: 26/27 April
Final (Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon)
23, 24 or 25 May tbc