Caitlin Foord and Steph Catley have prevailed over Sam Kerr and Ellie Carpenter in the Champions League "Battle of the Matildas'' as defending champions Arsenal advanced to the semi-finals despite a 1-0 defeat to London rivals Chelsea.
Catley had to watch from the bench after suffering an injury just before halftime, but she and Foord, both part of the Gunners' final triumph last season, both ended up smiling again at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) as they celebrated the 3-2 aggregate win following their first-leg victory at the Emirates Stadium.
It meant only more misery for Kerr, who set up the stoppage-time goal for Sjoeke Nusken that gave Chelsea victory on the night in front of their own fans but wasn't enough to keep alive her long-standing dream of winning the most prestigious club prize in the women's game.
After losing 3-1 the previous week, it had always looked a tall order for Chelsea, but Carpenter, with her lively forays down the right flank, and Kerr, after appearing too isolated early on, constantly looked a threat.
At the other end, Foord bamboozled Carpenter at one point, but her finish, as so often, didn't match the build-up work.
Catley had been immaculate at the heart of Arsenal's defence, but just before the break she went down with what looked like a calf problem, and that was the end of her night.
Kerr's best moment came in the 53rd minute when she made a terrific run to latch on to a long ball from Nusken and fired Chelsea's first shot on target, which needed to be tipped away at full stretch by the excellent Daphne van Domselaar.
But even having lost Catley, Arsenal's defence was rarely troubled and it looked as if they had wrapped up the tie when Stina Blackstenius headed home in 80th minute on the counter-attack, only to be ruled to have been fractionally offside in the build-up.
The match finished with a flurry of chances, Chelsea hitting the post twice in the dying minutes through Veerle Buurman and Nusken, and Beth Mead striking the upright for Arsenal moments later.
Kerr, despite looking almost out on her feet, summoned up one last effort to make a run down the left and fire in a low cross to Nusken, whose first-time left-foot gave Chelsea one final lifeline in the 94th minute. It was, though, too little too late.
Earlier, Manchester United were knocked out in their quarter-final as Bayern Munich claimed a 2-1 home victory to seal a 5-3 aggregate win.
United trailed 3-2 from the first leg, but Melvine Malard struck early in Munich to level the tie, only for Glodis Viggosdottir and Linda Dallmann to latch on to corners and score in the last 10 minutes.
Australian Associated Press
