EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW: UEFA WOMEN’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI-FINALS 2025

Barcelona players celebrating a goal in the quarter-finals. Photo: BR Football

As we approach the weekend, the closer we are to this year’s Champions League semi-finals with Arsenal at home to Lyon on Saturday 19th April and Barcelona at home to Chelsea on Sunday 20th April.

Both reverse fixtures will take place the following Sunday!

However, while these games signal the finishing line to the competition being in reach, it has taken a lot of games to get to this point. Therefore it is the perfect time to look back on what has led us to our final four.

Qualifying Rounds 

Before reaching the group stages it is important to acknowledge the qualifying rounds. Whilst the winners of the top four leagues automatically gain qualification to the group stages (this being Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Olympique Lyonnais) all other teams must face qualification through two rounds.

Some stand-out games from the first round include: Eintracht Frankfurt’s 6-0 win over Minsk, Benfica’s 4-0 win over SFK 2000 and a team that did qualify for the groups and Twente’s 5-0 win over Valur. Noticeable games from the second round include Juventus winning 5-2 on aggregate to PSG and Manchester City’s 8-0 aggregate win over Paris FC.

Group Stages

The Champions League has four groups each containing four teams with the top two teams after six games qualifying for the quarter-finals.

Group A

Group A consisted of Galatasaray, Lyon, Roma and Wolfsburg. Lyon topped the group, remaining unbeaten with six wins gaining all 18 points. Wolfsburg came second with nine points losing twice to Lyon and once to Roma, with Roma missing out on the quarter-finals due to goal difference, as they also totalled nine points. Whereas Galatasaray finished bottom without gaining a single point.

Stand-out games from this group include Wolfsburg losing 1-0 to Roma in their first game before beating them 6-1 at home the second time and Lyon beating Galatasaray 6-0 with Roma also beating them 6-1.

Group B

Group B consisted of Celtic, Chelsea, FC Twente and Real Madrid. Like Lyon, Chelsea also topped the group unbeaten and won six out of six games. With Real Madrid being the other team to qualify for the next stage with 12 points, only dropping points on two occasions, both to Chelsea.

Twente finished third with just six points and Celtic finished last, failing to pick up any points. Noticeable games include a narrow 3-2 win for Chelsea against Real Madrid followed by a major 6-1 win for the Blues against Twente. As well as this, a close match up seen through a 3-2 win for Real Madrid against Twente despite playing them the week prior and beating them 7-0.

Group C

Group C included Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Vålerenga. Arsenal topped the group with 15 points, losing to Bayern Munich 5-2 on matchday one.

Bayern came second with four wins, one draw and a loss. Juventus came third with two wins both over Vålerenga, with Vålerenga finishing bottom on just one point they gained from a draw with Bayern Munich.

Stand-out fixtures from the groups include Arsenal’s 4-1 win over Vålerenga, Bayern Munich’s 4-0 win over Juventus and the 1-1 draw between Vålerenga and Bayern Munich.

Group D

Group D consisted of reigning champions Barcelona, Hammarby, Manchester City and St. Pölten. Barcelona and Manchester City both finished with 15 points losing once each to the other.

Barcelona topped the group with a goal difference of 23 in comparison to Manchester City’s 11. Hammarby finished third with two wins over St. Pölten who finished last failing to gain any points.

Noticeable fixtures include Barcelona’s 3-0 win over Manchester City after losing to them the first time, Barcelona’s landslide wins of 7-0 over St. Pölten and a 9-0 win over Hammarby as well a close win for City as they beat Hammarby 3-2.

Quarter-finals

The quarter finals saw a dramatic fight between all eight teams across both legs; the first of which being between Arsenal and Real Madrid. Real Madrid took a 2-0 lead in the first leg with goals from Caicedo and del Castillo.

However, Arsenal fought back in the second leg by going 3-0 up thanks to two goals from Russo and one from Caldentey overall winning the tie 3-2 on aggregate.

Arsenal will face Lyon in the semi-finals. Lyon played Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals winning both legs, Lyon won 2-0 away in Germany with goals from Chawinga and Dumornay.

In the second leg, Bayern scored first with hopes of fighting back their defeat with a goal from Bühl, but in the second half Lyon came back with four, with goals from Chawinga and Dumornay again as well as one from Diani and Hegerberg.

The other semi-final was decided by Barcelona's aggregate win of 10-2 over Wolfsburg. Barcelona won the first leg 4-1 with a lead coming from an own goal but soon Barcelona extended their lead by two goals in three minutes from Paredes and Paralluelo.

Wolfsburg fought back with a goal from Minge before Barcelona scored again in the 89th minute with a goal from Schertenleib. Barcelona further extended their lead in the second leg with six goals; two from Paralluelo, two from Pina, one from Brugts and one from Leon, however Beerensteyn did score for Wolfsburg to prevent a clean sheet.

Barcelona will face Chelsea in the semi-finals for the third consecutive year. However, it did not look like this would be the case from Chelsea’s first leg after facing their first defeat from a 2-0 loss to Manchester City, with two goals from Miedema. However, Chelsea showed their winning mentality coming back with a 3-0 win with goals from Baltimore, Björn and Ramirez.

With the semi-finals all set up, who will come out victorious and ready for the final in Lisbon?