Barcelona Femeni will discover their opponent in the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarterfinals later today, when the draw holds at 13:00 CET. The European champions qualified for the knockout stages after taking pole position in their group with 16 points.
Barca won all their group stage matches with the exception of their last game which ended in a draw. The result of that game however had no impact on the Blaugrana’s title defense ambition with qualification already secured on Matchday 4.
Barcelona defeated Benfica 5-0 in their first group stage match before racking up a series of victories against Frankfurt (1-3), and Rosengard (0-6) respectively. The reverse fixtures also saw the champions defeat Rosengard (7-0) and Frankfurt (2-0) before finally receiving a blow to their winning run away at Benfica in a 4-4 draw.
However, progressing to the quarterfinals while being top of the group means that the Catalan giants will avoid being drawn against other clubs that finished top of their various groups as well. Hence, the clubs that stand a chance of going up against the two-time champions are Sweden’s BK Hacken, Norwegian side SK Brann, and Dutch side Ajax.
While Barcelona have successfully made it to the final of the Champions League for four consecutive years, the Queens of Europe will be tested against one of these three clubs in the quarterfinals. Barca Femeni will have to pass that test and overcome the challenge raised by the opposition to secure a spot in the semifinals.
