UEFA Women’s Champions League: Manchester United progress to face Bayern in the quarters

Manchester United’s debut run in the UEFA Women’s Champions League will roll into the quarter-finals after the WSL newcomers dispatched Atlético Madrid with a minimum of fuss. A 3-0 victory in the Spanish capital last week left the tie all but settled, and two first-half goals at Leigh Sports Village on Thursday night sealed a 5-0 aggregate success that sends Marc Skinner’s side into the last eight.

Waiting for them there will be FC Bayern Munich, who finished the inaugural league phase in fourth place and memorably edged Arsenal 3-2 during the group stage. The German champions will travel to Manchester for the first leg before hosting the return at the FC Bayern Campus, knowing that United have already shown they can hurt higher-ranked opposition on the continental stage.

United’s only blemish in the competition so far came on matchday four, when VfL Wolfsburg dealt them a 5-2 lesson in Lower Saxony. Wolfsburg advanced to the quarters by eliminating Juventus earlier on Thursday and will now meet record eight-time winners Olympique Lyonnaises. The victors of that tie are guaranteed an English opponent in the semi-finals, with either Arsenal or Chelsea lying in wait.

Elsewhere, the draw has served up an all-Liga F blockbuster: Barcelona and Real Madrid will collide for the right to face the winner of Bayern versus Manchester United. The road to the 23 May final at Oslo’s Ullevaal Stadion is now mapped out, and the competition’s newcomers have already proved they are comfortable navigating uncharted territory.