![\"Real](\"https:\/\/ss-i.thgim.com\/public\/incoming\/9k78zl\/article70622560.ece\/alternates\/FREE_1200\/AFP_974V2RJ.jpg\" "\\"Real")
<\/p>\nDefending champion Arsenal took a major step toward the Women\u2019s Champions League quarterfinals after thrashing OH Leuven 4-0 in the first leg of their knockout playoff on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Fresh off its win in the inaugural Women\u2019s Champions Cup on February 1, Arsenal dominated from the outset in Belgium and moved closer to a quarterfinal clash against London rival Chelsea.<\/p>\n
Frida Maanum starred with a brace, while Olivia Smith justified the record fee Arsenal paid Liverpool for her in July with a fine goal. Kim Little also marked a milestone, coming off the bench to make her 400th appearance for the club.<\/p>\n
Arsenal opened the scoring in the 22nd minute when Maanum headed in Caitlin Foord\u2019s cross from the right. Smith doubled the lead 15 minutes later, finishing clinically into the far corner with a first-time low strike. Maanum added her second early in the second half, once again set up by Foord, before substitute Alessia Russo completed the rout with her fifth goal of the campaign.<\/p>\n
The revamped Women\u2019s Champions League format has introduced a league phase of six rounds. The top four teams, Barcelona, Lyon, Chelsea and Bayern Munich, qualified directly for the quarterfinals, while teams placed fifth to 12th entered the playoff round. Arsenal finished fifth, while Leuven placed 12th in its first season in Europe\u2019s top competition. The sides had already met in the league phase, with Arsenal winning 3-0 away.<\/p>\n
Real Madrid prevails<\/p>\n
Real Madrid’s French forward Naomie Feller (R) and Paris FC’s Norwegian midfielder Nora Harnes Haheim (C) fight for the ball during the UEFA Women’s Champions League knockout round first leg play-off match at the Stade Charlety, in Paris.
\n | Photo Credit:
\n AFP\n <\/p>\n
![\"lightbox-info\"\/](\"https:\/\/assetsss.thehindu.com\/theme\/images\/SSRX\/lightbox-info.svg\")
<\/p>\n
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Real Madrid’s French forward Naomie Feller (R) and Paris FC’s Norwegian midfielder Nora Harnes Haheim (C) fight for the ball during the UEFA Women’s Champions League knockout round first leg play-off match at the Stade Charlety, in Paris.
\n | Photo Credit:
\n AFP\n <\/p>\n
In the other playoff on Wednesday, Real Madrid stayed on course for a potential all-Spanish quarterfinal against three-time champion Barcelona after beating Paris FC 3-2 in France.<\/p>\n
Madrid trailed early but turned the game around before halftime. Caroline Weir equalised in the 39th minute and Athenea put Madrid ahead on the stroke of halftime. Linda Caicedo made it 3-1 in the 83rd minute before Maeline Mendy pulled one back late to keep Paris in the tie.<\/p>\n
Paris had taken the lead through Kaja Koro\u0161ec, who volleyed in from a corner.<\/p>\n
The remaining playoff first legs, Wolfsburg vs Juventus and Atletico Madrid vs Manchester United, will be played on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Published on Feb 12, 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Defending champion Arsenal took a major step toward the Women\u2019s Champions League quarterfinals after thrashing OH Leuven 4-0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1444,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[1426,1415,1428,1414,1412,1438,1443,1430,1432,7,1422,1437,1429,1420,1441,1425,1419,1445,1439,1431,1421,1440,1413,1423,1434,1436,1435,1433,1424,1444,1427,1417,1446,1442,1416,1418],"class_list":["post-1443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-alessia-russo","tag-arsenal-4-0-leuven","tag-arsenal-chelsea-quarterfinal","tag-arsenal-vs-oh-leuven","tag-arsenal-women","tag-athenea","tag-atletico-madrid-vs-manchester-united","tag-barcelona-women","tag-bayern-munich-women","tag-belgium","tag-caitlin-foord","tag-caroline-weir","tag-chelsea-women","tag-frida-maanum","tag-kaja-korosec","tag-kim-little-400th-game","tag-knockout-playoff-first-leg","tag-league-phase","tag-linda-caicedo","tag-lyon-women","tag-maanum-brace","tag-maeline-mendy","tag-oh-leuven","tag-olivia-smith","tag-paris-fc-women","tag-real-madrid-3-2-paris-fc","tag-real-madrid-vs-paris-fc","tag-real-madrid-women","tag-record-transfer-fee","tag-revamped-womens-champions-league-format","tag-russo-goal","tag-uefa-womens-champions-league","tag-uefa-womens-football","tag-wolfsburg-vs-juventus","tag-womens-champions-league","tag-womens-ucl-playoffs"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1443"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1443\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}