With all eyes on the UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL) semifinals, fans might be forgiven for forgetting another busy weekend across Europe’s biggest domestic leagues, but there was plenty going on.
First thing’s first, Barcelona put the sword to a miserable-looking Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, completing an 8-2 aggregate win before Arsenal left Lyon shocked with a memorable comeback in to book their place in the final.
Meanwhile, in the English Women’s Super League, Crystal Palace had their relegation confirmed by an imperious West Ham United side who fired seven goals beyond the hosts on a Sunday when Manchester City kept their hopes of European football alive with a 1-0 win at Leicester City.
In the Frauen-Bundesliga, Bayern Munich claimed their third straight title with two games to spare after Leipzig lost 3-0 to SGS Essen. Over in Italy, Fiorentina shocked newly crowned champions Juventus with a 3-1 win, Inter emphatically painted Milan blue following their 4-1 Derby della Madonnina triumph and Lazio hit Como for four unanswered goals.
Finally, in Spain, it was another frantic weekend of trying to avoid the drop for those languishing at the foot of the Liga F table. But, with three matches still to play, there’s still plenty of chance for drama, as Real Madrid (who trounced Madrid CFF 7-3) will be aware as they continue to nip at Barcelona’s heels.
Chelsea’s Euro dreams dashed again
For the first time in 18 years, the Gunners have reached a continental final. Their commanding 4-1 victory over eight-time champions Lyon overturned a 2-1 first-leg deficit, securing their ticket to Lisbon for the final, a stage they have not reached since the 2006-07 triumph, when the competition was still known as the UEFA Women’s Cup. They also become the first English team to reach the final since 2021, when Chelsea suffered a 4-0 defeat to Barcelona in Gothenburg, a painful memory for the Blues repeated at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Chelsea, meanwhile, endured a humiliating exit. Despite narrowly losing to Barcelona at the semifinal stage in each of the past two seasons (1-0 on aggregate both times), they were comprehensively beaten 4-1 again, crashing out 8-2 on aggregate against the reigning champions.
This season was meant to mark a new era for Chelsea under 2021-22 UWCL-winning coach Sonia Bompastor, who was tasked with delivering the continental success that eluded Emma Hayes during her 12-year reign. After back-to-back semifinal heartbreaks, Chelsea appeared closer than ever ahead of this campaign, but after a crushing six-goal deficit, they now seem as far away from European glory as they ever have been. — EK
SIX. Spanish relegation race heats up. With three matchdays of the Liga F season left, the picture of which two teams will drop into the second tier has yet to come into focus with Valencia‘s 2-0 win away to Real Sociedad enough to keep their survival hopes alive although they remain routed to the floor of the table. Still hanging in the drop zone, but within touching distance of safety, Betis will be ruing the two points they let slip after Natalia Padilla-Bidas cancelled out Rosa Márquez’s opener, not least with Tenerife and Barcelona still to come. Similarly, both Levante and Espanyol improved with respective draws against Atleti and Eibar but neither are home and dry yet.
FIVE. The Fiorentina rollercoaster loops once more. Having wrapped up the Italian title last weekend – their first Scudetto for three years — Juventus may well have been expecting to continue the party in Florence on Friday but swiftly ran into a Fiorentina team who’d again found their goal-scoring touch, and more vitally, their balance across the pitch. One of Italy’s more erratic teams this season, the Viola could yet upset the odds and find themselves finishing above Roma to claim Serie A’s third and final Champions League spot but as ever this year, the Fiorentina team that shows up is as predictable as a coin toss.
FOUR. Leipzig fail to take flight, again. Still only nine years old, and just in their second season in the Frauen-Bundesliga, it’s arguably expecting too much of the Roten Bullen to be a consistent mid-table team yet, but following Leipzig’s 3-0 loss at home to Essen on Saturday, RB now find themselves without a win in five, unable to even trouble SGS’s backup goalkeeper, Kim Sindermann over the weekend. Unlike Essen — one of the FBL’s last standing independent teams — RB are well capable of spending big over the summer to further strengthen their squad, with these early years providing more of a learning experience, even as this season peters out.
THREE. Le Bihan shines for the Biancocelesti. Two teams trading paint all season, Como and Lazio have separately put in convincing performances this season — a first season for both in their current iterations — and have also played out a quintet of exciting games as both have adapted to Italy’s top flight. In their last meeting of the campaign, it was Lazio who came out on top, thanks in large part to Clarisse Le Bihan’s hat trick punctuating the 4-0 win for the visitors. Although it’s still early days, the inclusion of both in Serie A only looks like it will add more chaos moving forward.
TWO. Goalkeeping takes a holiday in Madrid. Filippa Angeldahl’s belter from 25 yards was undoubtedly the pick of the bunch as Real Madrid played out a crazy 7-3 win against Madrid CFF. For all Las Blancas’ goals, including Filippa Angeldal‘s and Alba Redondo‘s braces, Linda Caicedo‘s stoppage-time strike as well as Caroline Weir‘s ninth of the season, the visitors managed to score three and, arguably, should have had at least two more with Real’s sloppy defending on show throughout.
ONE. Seagulls finish on a high. As Brighton & Hove Albion fans have swiftly leaned this season, a Dario Vidosic team will rarely play boring football and even if the consistency is, as of yet, lacking for the Seagulls (who have had to contest with their fair share of injuries this season), the excitement is not. Away to Everton on Sunday afternoon, Brighton were again box office, coming from behind twice before stealing all three points in added time thanks to Nikita Parris‘ low drive. And although it was a team effort from the visitors at Walton Hall Park, Parris continued to show her worth as an experienced head in the team that marries maturity with youthful exuberance. — SL
