AS Roma Women made history on Thursday afternoon as they qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Women’s Champions League for the first time in their history. They will be joined there by fellow Serie A Femminile side Juventus Women.
Both Roma and Juventus played their final qualifying round second leg matches this week with the Giallorosse getting the better of Sparta Prague 6-2 on aggregate whilst Juventus beat HB Koege 3-1 on aggregate.
AS Roma into first-ever UWCL group stage
AS Roma won the first leg in Prague 2-1 and knew that they just needed to finish the job back at the Stadio Tre Fontane in Rome. Despite starting very well, they fell behind in the first half when Petra Bertholdova scored from a corner.
10 minutes later though, Carina Wenninger headed in from a corner and drew Roma level. The second half went the way that the first had threatened to.
Despite Paloma Lazaro missing a penalty, Roma netted three more times and won the game 4-1 on the day. It was Andressa Alves who made it 2-1 to Alessandro Spugna’s side and then the deeply impressive Moeka Minami made it 3-1 with 20 minutes left.
The result and the occasion were topped off with a wonderful volley by Emilie Bosshard Haavi from the edge of the box.
The celebrations at the full-time whistle were more muted than some may have expected, which is likely a testament to the fact Roma are focused on their Serie A Femminile campaign which continues this weekend.
Juventus book their place in UWCL group stage
Juventus made sure that they get another crack at the Women’s Champions League by getting the better of HB Koege over the two legs. It was a 1-1 draw in Denmark in the first leg but the Bianconere got the job done back in Turin on Wednesday night.
A goal after just 11 minutes from Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir settled the nerves and put Juventus in the driving seat but it wasn’t until the 77th minute when Sofia Cantore scored that they could really start to feel that the job was done.
Juventus had a very good campaign last season as they qualified from a group containing high-quality sides in Chelsea, Wolfsburg and Servette Chenois. They then faced Lyon in the quarter-finals and beat them 2-1 in the first leg.
A 3-1 second-leg defeat meant that Lyon progressed and they went on to win the tournament in Turin, which shows how well Joe Montemurro’s side did to win the first leg.
