With the league phase of the Women’s Champions League drawing to its dramatic conclusion on Wednesday night, plenty is still to be decided – including whether there could be an all-English play-off double header on the way in February.
All three of England’s representatives – Chelsea, Manchester United, and Arsenal – are guaranteed of reaching the knock-out play-offs, but under the newly introduced format, there’s an entirely realistic chance of two facing one another for the chance to reach the quarter-finals.
If the league phase were to end today, it would set up a play-off meeting between Arsenal and Man Utd. Of course, there are plenty of possible permutations to change that across the nine matches kicking off simultaneously on Wednesday evening. But there are eight possible combinations where they – or Chelsea – could end up in the play-off round against another English club.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Only four teams will automatically qualify for the last eight, with unbeaten Chelsea currently third in the standings, but sitting just a point clear of the chasing pack.
Victory at Wolfsburg, who have already thrashed Man Utd 5-2 in this season’s tournament, will guarantee their progression, although a point may well still be sufficient given their vastly superior goal difference to their rivals. Even in a worst-case scenario, the lowest they can finish in the league phase is eighth, the last of the seeded play-off sides.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
That position is currently occupied by Arsenal, who face the lowest-ranked side in the competition, OH Leuven, in their final game. However, the European minnows have lost only one of their five games to this point. The Gunners need to make up a point on at least four of the teams above them and must win to keep their faint automatic hopes alive.
They sit ahead of ninth-placed Man Utd on goal difference. Marc Skinner’s team face an almost identical task but also have the Gunners to overtake in order to qualify automatically, needing to overturn back-to-back defeats to Wolfsburg and Lyon to do so.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
They travel to Italy to face a Juventus side, who have impressed in this season’s tournament, holding Lyon and narrowly losing to Bayern Munich while currently sitting fourth. Should any of the WSL trio fail to finish in the top four, their priority will be finishing as high as possible in the play-off spots to set up a more favorable run in the knock-outs.
Realistically, anything less than a win may not be enough for either United or Arsenal to finish in the top half of the play-offs as one of the seeded teams.
Who will play who in the play-off round?
Teams will be paired as follows for a two-legged play-off, with the higher-ranked team playing the second leg at home:
- Fifth-placed team vs 12th-placed team
- Sixth-placed team vs 11th-placed team
- Seventh-placed team vs 10th-placed team
- Eighth-placed team vs ninth-placed team
What is the schedule for the rest of the tournament?
- February 11-12: Play-offs first leg
- February 18-19: Play-offs second leg
- March 24-25: Quarter-finals first leg
- April 1-2: Quarter-finals second leg
- April 25-26: Semi-finals first leg
- May 2-3: Semi-finals second leg
- May 24: Final