Arsenal

Arsenal head coach Jonas Eidevall feels his squad need to go “full throttle” into a hectic schedule – starting against Bayern Munich in the Women’s Champions League.

The Gunners head to Germany on the back of a frustrating goalless draw with Everton in the Women’s Super League, and will then have little turnaround time before hosting title rivals Chelsea on Saturday.

With another home European fixture against Norwegian side Valerenga on October 16 before playing West Ham in the WSL, Eidevall knows his squad will be stretched as they tackle the challenges ahead.

“We are in four competitions, but saying that, the Champions League and the league, they will always be very special to me and the team,” Eidevall said at a news conference.

“Right now we are in a situation where we need to go full throttle in both of them, so then it has to be.

“Before the game against Everton, I said it could be different from a scheduled perspective. Now we are just focused game-by-game, doing our very best to prepare here for Bayern Munich and just looking ahead to the challenges."

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Emma Sanders
BBC Sport women’s football news reporter

Chelsea got off to a winning start in their Women's Champions League campaign with victory over Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge.

Sonia Bompastor's side were in front within two minutes as Sjoeke Nusken's header took a heavy deflection off Sheila Garcia and bounced over the line.

The Blues doubled their lead within half an hour when Guro Reiten struck a perfectly-placed penalty past goalkeeper Misa after Nusken was clipped in the box.

That threatened to kill the game early on but Real Madrid fought back, pouncing on Chelsea's sloppy defending as Alba Redondo fired the ball past Zecira Musovic, called in as a replacement for goalkeeper Hannah Hampton minutes before kick-off.

Chelsea, semi-finalists in the competition in the past two seasons, regained control with Mayra Ramirez's looped header making it 3-1 just after half-time - but Real again came back as substitute Linda Caicedo fumbled in a second goal for the visitors.

It made for an anxious ending at Stamford Bridge despite Chelsea having been comfortable for most of the encounter but victory puts them second in Group B, level on three points with FC Twente who Celtic 2-0 in Tuesday's other fixture.

A battling display ended in a 2-0 defeat for Champions League debutants Celtic against Dutch champions Twente.

Kayleigh van Dooran's double either side of half-time secured the three points in Scotland.

It's an away tie at Real Madrid up next for Celtic while Twente host Chelsea.

In the early kick-offs yesterday, in Group A Roma managed to hold on to a huge three points against two-time winners Wolfsburg. Manuela Giugliano was the hero there with an early penalty.

Over in France, Lyon started their pursuit of a ninth title with a fine 3-0 win over Galatasaray. Kadidiatou Diani netted twice and Vanessa Gilles also scored.

Image source, Getty Images

Yesterday...

Group A: Lyon 3-0 Galatasaray, Roma 1-0 Wolfsburg.

Group B: Celtic 0-2 Twente, Chelsea 3-2 Real Madrid.

Today...

Group C: Bayern Munich v Arsenal (17:45 BST), Valerenga v Juventus (20:00 BST).

Group D: Hammarby v St Polten (17:45 BST), Manchester City v Barcelona (20:00 BST).

• Matchday one - 8/9 October
• Matchday two - 16/17 October
• Matchday three - 12/13 November
• Matchday four - 20/21 November
• Matchday five - 11/12 December
• Matchday six - 17/18 December

Chelsea: 8 October 3-2 v Real Madrid H, 17 October v Twente A, 13 November v Celtic A, 20 November v Celtic H, 11 December v Twente H, 17 December v Real Madrid A

Celtic: 8 October 0-2 v Twente H, 17 October v Real Madrid A, 13 November v Chelsea H, 20 November v Chelsea A, 11 December v Real Madrid H, 17 December v Twente A.

Arsenal: 9 October v Bayern Munich A, 16 October v Valerenga H, 12 November v Juventus A, 21 November v Juventus H, 12 December v Valerenga A, 18 December v Bayern Munich H.

Manchester City: 9 October v Barcelona H, 16 October v St Polten A, 12 November v Hammarby H, 21 November v Hammarby A, 12 December v St Polten H, 18 December v Barcelona A.

See the full list of fixtures here.

Image source, Getty Images

As the two-time defending champions, Barcelona will once again be the overwhelming favourites to lift the trophy in Lisbon in May.

The Spanish side, who have played in the past four finals, are aiming to become just the second club after Lyon to win three straight titles.

Their squad is full of players from Spain's 2023 World Cup winning side, including Ballon d'Or winners Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas.

Lyon's dominance in the Women's Champions League has come to an end in recent years, but the French club will be seen as the biggest challengers to Barcelona, having defeated them in the 2022 final.

However, the eight-time winners are entering a new era without Bompastor at the helm and are yet to prove themselves under former Arsenal boss Joe Montemurro.

Wolfsburg, as two-time winners and runners-up in 2023, would usually be seen as contenders, but their status as Germany's top team has been stolen by Bayern Munich, who have won the past two Frauen-Bundesliga titles.

Bayern have reached the semi-finals twice before, but they fell in the group stages last season after conceding a late equaliser to PSG in their final group game.

Holders Barcelona qualified automatically for the group stages along with Chelsea, Lyon and Bayern Munich as the winners of their respective leagues.

The 12 other teams - including Arsenal, Manchester City and Celtic - had to go through a tough qualifying process in which two-time finalists Paris St-Germain suffered a surprise exit.

The 16 teams are split into groups of four, with each club playing one home and one away match against each club in their group.

The top two teams in each group progress to the quarter-finals, which will be played in March.

This will be the last time the Women's Champions League has a group stage as the tournament is set to switch to a new 18-team league format for the 2025-26 season with nine teams qualifying automatically.

Here is the Bayern Munich starting XI named to take on Arsenal in Group C in the Women's Champions League.

England international Georgia Stanway starts in the middle of midfield alongside former Chelsea winger Pernille Harder.

Bayern Munich XI: Grohs, Gwinn, Viggosdottir, Hansen, Simon, Harder, Stanway, Zadrazil, Lohmann, Damnjanovic, Buhl.

Subs: Mahmutovic, Sembrant, Dallmann, Schuller, Sehitler, Zigotti Olme, Doucoure, Zawistowska, Kerr.

Here is how Arsenal line-up for their opening Women's Champions League game against Bayern Munich.

Leah Williamson starts in the heart of the defence with Stina Blackstenius leading the line.

Beth Mead has to settle for a place on the bench.

Arsenal XI: Zinsberger, Fox, Williamson, Codina, McCabe, Mariona, Little, Walti, Maanum, Foord, Blackstenius.

Subs: Van Domselaar, Williams, Wubben-Moy, Catley, Mead, Kafaji, Kuhl, Russo, Cooney-Cross, Lia, Godfrey, Reid.

Hello and welcome along to BBC Sport's coverage of Wednesday's Women's Champions League ties.

Bayern Munich versus Arsenal is at 17:45 BST, then Manchester City versus Barcelona at 20:00 BST and we have full commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live from the City match.

Image source, Getty Images

Chelsea made a winning start to their Women's Champions League campaign on Tuesday and now it's the turn of Arsenal and Manchester City to get going.

Both have fantastic ties, Arsenal away at Bayern Munich before City entertain European champions Barcelona.

Image source, Getty Images