With the first legs of the Women’s Champions League semi-finals (Chelsea v Barcelona, and Wolfsburg v Arsenal) taking place this weekend we pick a combined XI from the four teams.
Goalkeeper: Merle Frohms (Wolfsburg)
This year’s Fifa The Best awards had Chelsea’s Ann-Katrin Berger in the top three goalkeepers in women’s football but Wolfsburg’s Merle Frohms, who has been in superb form since Euro 2022, gets the nod.
Jasmina Schweimler, who covers Die Wölfinnen for the Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung says: “She has grown a lot as a goalkeeper since she came back to the club from Eintracht Frankfurt [in 2022]. She has a great skills set, great reactions and is always involved in increasing the speed of the game whenever she has the ball.”
Berger is not far behind though and saved two penalties against Lyon to send Chelsea into the semi-finals. Arsenal’s Manuela Zinsberger and Barcelona’s Sandra Paños are good backup options.
Defence: Lucy Bronze (Barcelona), Mapi León (Barcelona), Leah Williamson (Arsenal) and Katie McCabe (Arsenal)
In our 4-3-3 formation, the defensive players must be able to adapt and be ready to participate in the team’s attacking play as well as being able to shift positions and move wide or narrow according to how the game flows. Barcelona’s game relies on a strong defence that can pass the ball quickly, which is why we have picked Lucy Bronze and Mapi León to play together on the right.
On the left we have opted for the Arsenal duo of Leah Williamson, who has been a consistent piece in their defensive lines alongside Rafaelle Souza and can also play in midfield, and Katie McCabe. The Ireland international is a natural choice on the left where she is happy to go forward and can do so at speed.
There is versatility on the bench in Wolfsburg’s Kathrin Hendrich, who can play at centre-back and full-back.
Midfield: Frida Maanum (Arsenal), Keira Walsh (Barcelona) and Guro Reiten (Chelsea)
Arguably the most difficult section to pick. Keira Walsh has been key to Barcelona’s game this season and is an obvious choice for the central position. It would have been easy to include her teammate Aitana Bonmatí, but we have mixed it up with two in-form players from the WSL.
Frida Maanum and Guro Reiten have contributed with goals and assists to keep their teams in the WSL title hunt as well as allowing them to dream about winning the Champions League. When you have hungry strikers , which these teams do, they need to be fed. A Maanum-Walsh-Reiten trio would surely be able to get the ball to them, as well as scoring goals themselves.
Attack: Caroline Graham Hansen (Barcelona), Sam Kerr (Chelsea) and Ewa Pajor (Wolfsburg)
This is a powerful attack. There are lots vying for the positions and perhaps Chelsea’s Lauren James has the strongest claim for inclusion after her superb season, but we have gone for players from three clubs.
Kerr is one for the big games and has been the mainstay of Chelsea’s attack since joining in 2020. In this team Kerr would have to share goalscoring duties with Ewa Pajor, coming in from the left. The Poland forward has been with the She-Wolves since 2015 and is hugely important for them with and without the ball. She is the top scorer in this season’s Champions League and Wolfsburg often build their attacks around her. The Norwegian Caroline Graham Hansen is extremely difficult to mark and would be able to drop into midfield to help while still contributing goals and assists.
Substitutes: Ann-Katrin Berger (Chelsea), Kathrin Hendrich (Wolfsburg), Rafaelle Souza (Arsenal), Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona), Lauren James (Chelsea), Caitlin Foord (Arsenal) and Asisat Oshoala (Barcelona)
Any coach would love to have this bench to turn to in the unlikely event of the starting XI struggling. These substitutes offer all sorts of options, whether to shore up the defence or make a tactical tweak elsewhere. Just because they are not starting does not mean they should not be used.
This is an extract from our weekly women’s football email, Moving the Goalposts. To subscribe, just visit this page and follow the instructions.
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