London: Chelsea and Bayern Munich advanced to the quarterfinals of the Women’s Champions League as the league phase ended with a hectic night of nine simultaneous games Wednesday, as Juventus and Real Madrid head for the playoffs. Headers from Lucy Bronze and Sam Kerr lifted Chelsea to a 2-1 win at two-time Champions League winner Wolfsburg to take third place behind Barcelona and OL Lyonnes, after Alexandra Popp had given Wolfsburg the lead.
Chelsea became the first English team to win at Wolfsburg in the competition, something Bronze called “a good record to have finally cracked.” Kerr’s header made her the second Chelsea player to score 20 career goals in the Champions League and the first Australian to achieve the feat.
“It was definitely a tough game today,” Bronze said. “It was probably one of our hardest in the Champions League.”
Bayern cruised to a 3-0 win over Norway’s Valerenga to claim the fourth and last direct quarterfinal place and dodge the playoff round. That had seemed unlikely in October, when Bayern started the league phase with a 7-1 loss to Barcelona.
Bayern’s big win was only enough for the top four because Juventus and Real Madrid both slipped up and head to the playoff round.
Real Madrid needed Sara Däbritz’s goal deep into stoppage time for a 1-1 draw at Twente and
finishes seventh.