Chelsea and Arsenal have both been given difficult opponents in the 2022-23 Uefa Women’s Champions League group stage draw.
Emma Hayes’ Blues were the first team drawn and were placed into Group A. They will square up against Real Madrid, who eliminated Manchester City in the qualifying rounds for this year’s tournament. They will also have to go up against Paris Saint-Germain, the 2021-22 Coupe de France feminine champions, and Albanian side Vllaznia.
The Blues were left bitterly disappointed in their last European campaign. They failed to qualify for the knockout stages as they were left to rue a goalless draw with Juventus at Kingsmeadow that effectively cost them a place in the quarter-finals.
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As for last season’s Women’s Super League runners-up Arsenal, they were drawn into a challenging Group C which features reigning champions Lyon, the current Serie A champions Juventus, who Chelsea failed to beat in the group stage last season, and Zurich. Manager Jonas Eidevall will be aware of just how challenging it will be to get the Gunners out of the group, but given how well his side performed last season and have started this term, they will feel confident they can reach the knockout stages.
The Gunners will be aiming to surpass the quarter-finals, which they reached last time out, only to be defeated by experienced German side Wolfsburg. 2013 and 2014 winners Wolfsburg were placed into Group B with Slavia Prague, Austrian side St Polten and AS Roma.
Last year’s finalists Barcelona were allocated into Group D and they will face off against Bayern Munich, which will see former Manchester City stars Lucy Bronze and Keira Walsh face their old teammate Georgia Stanway. The rest of the group is made up of FC Rosengard and Benfica.
The first matchday of the groups will take place across 19-20 October and will conclude just before Christmas between 21-22 December.
