Women’s Champions League group stage: Chelsea drawn into Group A of Death

Qualification for the Champions League ended midweek last week and today the ping pong balls fluttered and were plucked and gave us the results of the UEFA Women’s Champions League draw. Given the pots, a group of death was always likely, but there are two and Chelsea is in one of them.

Group A and Group C are brutal. The cost of Chelsea avoiding Wolfsburg, the team who knocked us out of the group stages last season, is apparently two powerhouse clubs in PSG and Real Madrid. PSG are a perennial quarterfinalists, if not semifinalists, and Real Madrid’s determined chasing of Barcelona has seen them grow leaps and bounds over the years. As for Vllaznia, thoughts and prayers I guess.

The other Group of Death is Group C, which includes last season’s champions Lyon, WSL rivals Arsenal, Juventus (who held Chelsea at home and contributed to knocking us out of the groups last season), and Zurich (pray for Zurich),

The women’s Champions League tournament is done a tad differently than the men’s, so only league champions have their spots cemented in the group stage while everyone else goes through qualification. Arsenal, who missed out on the WSL title by a point, narrowly made the groups after squeaking by Ajax. Manchester City, who finished third, got knocked out by Real Madrid — again (also: lol).

Group stage play is set to begin later this month. Come on — and I cannot stress this enough — Chelsea.

Group A
Chelsea
Paris Saint-Germain
Real Madrid
Vllaznia

Group B
Wolfsburg
Slavia Praha
St. Polten
AS Roma

Group C
Lyon
Arsenal
Juventus
FC Zurich

Group D
Barcelona
Bayern
Rosengard
Benfica