PARIS: Holders Lyon were given a tough draw in the women’s Champions League on Monday in a group which includes Arsenal and Juventus.
Lyon beat 2021 champions Barcelona 3-1 in May, and are in a Group C which includes the Gunners, the 2007 champions, powered by star Dutch striker Vivianne Miedema, Juve and Swiss side Zurich.
Barca benefited from a more lenient draw in a Group D alongside Germans Bayern Munich, Rosengard of Sweden and Portuguese club Benfica.
English giants Chelsea, vice-champion of Europe in 2021, and with a star line-up including Pernille Harder and Sam Kerr, headline a tough Group A which also includes Paris Saint-Germain, semi-finalists in the last three editions, and the ambitious Real Madrid.
Outsiders in the group are Vllaznia Shkoder, the first Albanian women’s football club to climb into the European top-16.
In Group B, the Germans of Wolfsburg are favourites ahead of the Czechs Slavia Prague, Austrians St. Poelten and the Italy’s Roma, novices in the elite European competition.
Group stage matches take place between October 19 and December 22 with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the quarter-finals.-AFP
