The two Spanish teams that play in the Women's Champions League, Barcelona and Real Madrid, already know what their path will be in the first phase of the tournament.
Each one will have to face tough challenges, but it is Madrid that will have to sweat the most to reach the knockout stages.
In the draw for the group stage held this Monday at the UEFA headquarters, Barcelona, who started as the top seed, was drawn together with Bayern Munich, Rosengard and Benfica, while the whites will face each other Chelsea, PSG and Villaznia.
This will be the second season that the Women's Champions League has held a group stage before jumping to direct knockouts.
The group stage will begin on October 19 and end on December 22.
As in the men's Champions League, the top two teams in each group will advance to the quarterfinals, with the first leg on March 21 or 22 and the second leg the following week.
The semi-finals will be played in April, with the first legs on 22 and 23 and the second legs on 29 and 30 April.
The final will be played at PSV's stadium in Eindhoven on the weekend of June 3-4.
🏆 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐰: ✔️
Predict the four group winners ⤵️#UWCLdraw // #UWCL
— UEFA Women's Champions League (@UWCL) October 3, 2022
After lifting the title in 2020 and losing in the final in 2021, Barcelona start as big favorites to finish in first place, despite the fact that they will not be able to count on Alexia Putellas during the first phase.
The azulgranas, like the men's team, will face Bayern, their main rival for the leadership of their group.
The Bavarians left Real Sociedad behind in the qualifying phase (0-1 in the first leg in San Sebastián and 3-1 in Munich) and will seek revenge against the Blaugrana, who left them out of the final in 2019. In any case, Sweden's Rosengard and Benfica do not pose too many challenges for qualification.
Real Madrid have had less luck, although they expected a complicated group since they were in pot three, they have been left with two of the toughest rivals in the tournament: Chelsea and PSG.
The
blues,
which have several members of the European champion English team such as striker Fran Kirby,
They are back in the
group of death
after falling behind Wolfsburg and Juventus last year on goal difference.
PSG cross Madrid's path again after last year they swept the whites in the group stage (4-0 and 0-2).
The Albanian Vllaznia remains as the Cinderella of the group, against which those from Toril will have to add the three points in their clashes so as not to run out of options against the two
coconuts.
The other two groups have had an unequal distribution of powers.
Wolfsburg, champion of Germany and winner of the first two editions of the Women's Champions League, in 2014 and 2013, have been drawn against Slavia Prague and Austrian St. Polten and Roma.
Lyon, the current European champions, will face Arsenal, Juventus and Zurich, in a much closer group.
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