The draw for the group stage of the Women’s Champions League was not kind this Monday for PSG, which will face Chelsea, finalist of the 2021 edition, and Real Madrid. Same story for the Lyonnaises, defending champions, paid in the same group as Arsenal and Juventus.
PSG, qualified via the play-offs against the Swedish BK Häcken (2-1, 2-0), fell on the English Chelsea, reigning English champions carried by Pernille Harder and Sam Kerr in particular. The Blues now have French international Eve Perisset, former PSG (2016-2020) in their ranks.
The Parisiennes will also have to work against Sandie Toletti’s Real Madrid. A training in progress that the Parisiennes had faced last season at the same stage of the competition, coming out of it with a certain ease (4-0, 2-0). The game looks easier on the other hand against Vllaznia Shkodër, the first Albanian women’s football club to climb into the European top 16.
Eight-time winners of the event after their victory over Barcelona (3-1) in May, the OL players were among the four seeds in the draw organized at UEFA headquarters in Nyon. But they haven’t been varnished yet. The favorites of group C will notably cross swords during the group stage, scheduled from October 19 to December 22, with the English from Arsenal and their star scorer Vivianne Miedema.
Another major rival, Juventus Turin of French international goalkeeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin, proved difficult to beat in the quarter-finals of the previous edition. The Lyonnaises, dominated 2-1 in Italy, had reversed the situation by winning 3-1 in the return. The Swiss from Zürich complete the square of opponents.
The top two teams from each group will qualify directly for the quarter-finals. The group stage will start on October 19 and 20 and end after six rounds on December 21 and 22.
