Chelsea and Arsenal Women are handed tricky Champions League groups in draw

Chelsea and Arsenal have both been handed tough draws in the women’s Champions League with the Blues set to face Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid while the Gunners will take on holders Lyon.

Emma Hayes’ side were knocked out at the group stage last season in dramatic fashion when they were beaten 4-0 by Wolfsburg in their final game. Chelsea had only needed to avoid defeat by three goals to progress.

Arsenal made it to the quarter-final but were also knocked out by Wolfsburg. As well as having to face Lyon, the Gunners will play Italian champions Juventus – who are managed by their former coach Joe Montemurro. It will be Montemurro’s first game against Arsenal since leaving the club in 2021.

Emma Hayes’ Chelsea have been placed in the same group as PSG and Real Madrid

Jonas Eidevall’s Arsenal have also been given a tough group which includes holders Lyon

FULL CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW

Group A

Chelsea, PSG, Real Madrid, Vllaznia

Group B

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Wolfsburg, Slavia Praha, St Polten, Roma

Group C

Lyon, Arsenal, Juventus, Zurich

Group D

Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Rosengard, Benfica

Chelsea faced PSG back in the quarter-final back in 2019. The occasion was marred by the PSG ‘ultras’ who travelled to watch the game at Kingsmeadow, with one coach turned away from the stadium. The Metropolitan Police said at the time that ‘knives and knuckledusters’ were recovered while one man was arrested for possession of class A drugs.

PSG have had a turbulent year following the arrest of former player Aminata Diallo, who has been arrested and charged with a ‘planned and premeditated attack’ on her ex-teammate Kheira Hamraoui.

Elsewhere in the group, Chelsea will face Real Madrid for the first time. The Spanish side knocked out Manchester City in qualifying.

Caroline Weir, who joined Real from City in the summer, has been in fine form and scored twice against Chelsea in the Continental Cup final last season.

The final team to make up Group A is Albanian side Vllaznia while the fourth team in Arsenal’s group is Swiss club FC Zurich.

There will be a Lionesses reunion in Group D with Barcelona taking on Bayern Munich. Lucy Bronze and Keira Walsh both signed for the Catalans this summer while Georgia Stanway made the move to Munich.

The first group stage match will take place on October 19/20 while the final will be played on either June 3 or 4 at PSV Eindhoven’s stadium.

Keira Walsh (L) and Georgia Stanway (R) won the Euros with England, but will be coming up against each other in the Champions League this season