Wolfsburg struggled in the Round of 32 but rolled through Neulengbach, keeping alive hopes for a three-peat (Photo copyright Domenic Aquilina)
A day after Paris Saint-Germain scored a dramatic victory over French power Lyon, the final spots in the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarterfinals were booked. Bristol won the most dramatic match on Thursday rallying to draw Barcelona and win the aggregate, assuring English presence when the tournament resumes next year. The draw for the final eight will be made next Wednesday.
Here is a look at the remaining Round of 16 2nd legs:
Bristol 1, Barcelona 1 (2-1 on aggregate): Nicola Watts’s 83rd minute penalty thwarted extra time and gave Bristol a 2-1 win on the aggregate. Vicky Losada, who played last season for the Flash, got Barca off the duck in the 40th minute after which the proceedings were level on all counts. The visitors had a sizeable advantage in shots but could not find the extra goal to put Bristol up against it. An additional half hour loomed until Melanie Serrano brought down Natasha Harding in the box.
Glasgow City 4, Zurich 2 (5-4 on aggregate): Suzanne Lappin’s 87th minute goal completed a dramatic evening at Excelsior Stadium and gave Scotland representation in the quarterfinals for the first time. Trailing 2-1 after the opening leg, the Scottish side went to halftime down two and without the away goal edge after 17-year old Cinzia Zehnder scored in the almost unfathomable 9th minute of stoppage time. Glasgow came out firing in the 2nd and after goals from 18-year old Abbi Grant on 55 minutes and a penalty conversion by captain Leanne Ross in the 64th, the tie was level. The joy was shortlived. Zurich captain Fabienne Humm matched her counterpart just two minutes later giving the Swiss side the lead and the away goal edge. Glasgow needed two. Joanne Love got one in the 81st before Lappin won it in the 87th.
Fortuna 0, Rosengard 2 (1-4 on aggregate): Fortuna kept things close on the weekend but were unable to take advantage of playing at home and Marta’s side marched on to the quarters. The one-time WPS star hit a 44th minute penalty—won by another former WPS player Ramona Bachmann—which altered the landscape of the tie. Katrin Schmidt put it out of reach in the 77th.
Zvezda 3, Linkoping 0 (3-5 on aggregate): The three-goal win was not nearly enough for Zvezda to overcome their disastrous, 5-0 loss in the opening leg. Ekaterina Pantyukhina offered early hope with a goal in the opening minute but it was nearly an hour until Jose Nahi added another. Iya Andrushchak scored four minutes from time, but Linkoping’s advancement was never seriously threatened.
Wolfsburg 7, Neulengbach 0 (11-0 on aggregate): No drama here as the bid for three straight titles met little resistance. Lina Magull and Selina Wagner scored two goals each—Wagner’s in a two-minute span—and Wolfsburg got single goals from Alexandra Popp, Nilla Fischer, and Vanessa Bernauer.
GIntra 2, Brondby 0 (2-5 on aggregate): the Lithuanian hosts should be satisfied with a clear win on the day but despite cutting the aggregate to 5-2 before halftime, never seriously threatened to steal it. Sonata Vanagaite and Ana Alekperova accounted for the goals.
Torres 0, Frankfurt 4 (0-9 on aggregate): Another one sans tension. Dszenifer Marozsan opened the scoring in the 33rd and an own goal charged to Eleonora Piacezzi added to the messy day for Torres. Celia Sesic then scored on either side of halftime to make it 9-0.
