Last week Manchester City and Chelsea secured their places in the Champions League quarter-finals. Both sides won in style over the two legs, Chelsea beating Rosengard 4-0 overall and City gaining their last-eight place with a 7-1 aggregate score against LSK Kvinner.
These were no mean feats. Rosengard are Champions League quarter-final stalwarts, having made the last eight seven seasons running. The Swedish side were runners-up in the 2017 Damallsvenskan (Swedish league) to the quarter-finalists Linkopings for the second year in a row.
LSK Kvinner won the Toppserien (the Norwegian women’s top division) title in emphatic style, finishing 11 points clear of their nearest rivals Avaldsnes, who won the Norwegian cup final with a 1-0 win over Valerenga on Saturday.
It is no surprise that the success of Scandinavian sides in Europe has reflected the health of their domestic women’s leagues over the years, though not to the same extent as the dominant French and Germans, and the same may well be true for England in due course.
For decades women’s football was neglected here and Arsenal, pioneering the game practically alone, achieved success in Europe despite the weakness of the league at home. As they invested and developed, their performances in Europe showed remarkable progress. Six quarter-final exits and five semi-final defeats sandwiched a historic trophy in 2006-07, when they completed an unprecedented quadruple. The Scot Julie Fleeting scored nine times, including two hat-tricks, on their way to the top of European football and Alex Scott scored the winner in the 1-0 aggregate victory over the Swedish side Umea in the two-legged final.
For more read the full of article at The Guardian.
