As Real Madrid prepare to face Arsenal in the quarter-finals of the Uefa Women’s Champions League, they do so with the aim of achieving another milestone in the female section’s short history.
The Whites are vying to reach the semi-finals of the competition for the first time since the foundation of the women’s club – after the Takeover of Club Deportivo Tacon – on 1st July 2020.
Having cemented their place as Barcelona’s closest competitors in Spanish football, Real Madrid Femenino’s next goal will be to become the Catalans’ toughest rivals in Europe.
Madrid are now bidding to break into the European elite of the women’s game and they are rapidly on the ascent since the club’s creation just five years ago.
Real Madrid are making their second appearance in the quarter-finals, having been knocked out by Barcelona 8-3 on aggregate in 2021/22.
Alberto Toril’s charges now take on Arsenal over two legs, with a Liga F clasico against Barcelona sandwiched between both games, which adds to the complexity of Madrid’s task.
The tie sees the two sides go head-to-head for the first time in the tournament and this will be a stern test for Las Blancas.
The Gunners have won the second most Women’s Champions League matches (70) in the competition’s history, having scored the second most goals (329), and they are appearing in this round for a joint-record 16th time.
However, Arsenal (7th) are just one place above Madrid (8th) in Uefa’s coefficient ranking derived from the last five seasons, and the Spanish outfit’s points tally is based on four years of European football instead of five.
In this season’s European competition, after seeing off SP Sporting in the qualifying round, Madrid boast a record of four wins and two defeats from the group stage.
Though these two losses came against Chelsea – Real’s nemesis in Europe in recent years – Las Madridistas gave a good account of themselves in both games and they were more competitive than in previous years (going down 2-1 and 3-2).
Madrid swept away FC Twente (Agg 10-2) and Celtic (Agg 7-0) and are the second top scorers in the Women’s Champions League this term (20) behind Barça (26), averaging 3.34 goals per game.
The Real Madrid Women’s team are very much in the shadow of the men’s record-breaking side – who clinched their 15th European Cup last summer – and this somewhat unfair comparison puts extra pressure on the players.
Las Blancas are currently contesting their fourth Champions League campaign, having got through the qualifying phase a fourth time – the only team to have done so at every attempt.
Should Madrid edge out Arsenal in the quarter-final tie, they would make it through to their first-ever European semi-final, which would represent a significant milestone for the side from the Spanish capital.
Real have swiftly cemented their place as the second-best side in Spain’s Liga F behind Barcelona – the club with the biggest budget in the division and 32 more years of experience – and have displaced Atletico Madrid – who have been in existence for 19 years longer.
Las Madridistas’ improvement on the pitch can be seen primarily in the widening gap with the sides behind them in the league standings.
The team’s impressive away wins at Atletico and Athletic Club in 2025 mean the Whites are on course to secure a second-place finish for the fourth time. However, the Real Madrid hierarchy will not be content to only be the country’s best runners-up.
Although the women’s team are yet to win a trophy, they are edging closer and having finished as runners-up in 2022/23, they made it to the semi-finals of the Copa de la Reina for the second time this season, only to come up against Barcelona – losing 8-1 on aggregate.
The only stumbling block for Real Madrid is the almighty FC Barcelona, Madrid’s nemesis in Spanish football.
The Clasico drubbings handed out by the Catalans to Madrid over the years – Barça have prevailed in all 18 meetings between the two sides – have raised questions about the level Las Blancas are at.
Indeed, you had to go back to January 2023 to see the previous time the Madridistas celebrated a goal against Barca Femeni until Signe Bruun’s late consolation in the Copa de la Reina semi-finals on Wednesday evening.
Not only has Barcelona’s dominance in recent years set the team apart in Spain, but it has also done so in Europe – the Catalans have lifted three of the last four Women’s Champions League trophies.
Despite unfavourable results for Madrid, Real are gradually making progress and are steadily closing the gulf between the two teams.
Although Barca are firmly on track to seal their sixth Liga F crown on the bounce, the points difference between first and second is set to be significantly less this term.
Following the comfortable title finishes in 2021 (25-point gap), 2022 (24), 2023 (10) and 2024 (15), Madrid currently are only four points off the top of the standings (after one game more than Barca), having dropped points in only four games so far this season – at the time of writing.
Perhaps one positive result against their fierce rivals would shift the momentum and help propel the team to the next level.
Madrid are still very much in the shadow of Barcelona, but the gap is slowly being reduced and it may be just a matter of time before they secure their first-ever point, victory or even pip their fierce rivals to a trophy.
The staggering success of the men’s team – believed by many to be the greatest club in history – also provides an extra incentive for when the women’s club recruits new players.
Real’s capacity to acquire some of the top players in women’s football has seen the club gain the upper hand over most of their competitors in Spain.
The Whites have gradually made improvements to their playing squad and have made a flagship signing every season in an effort to catch up with Barça.
Goal machine Esther Gonzalez was signed in 2021 from Levante, Caroline Weir from Manchester City in 2022, Linda Caicedo in the 2023/24 transfer window from Colombian side Deportivo Cali and Melanie Leupolz from Chelsea in the summer of 2024.
Madrid also bolstered their squad with the Spanish world champions Alba Redondo – currently joint-third top scorer in the Liga F – and Eva Navarro, along with France international Maelle Lakrar.
Three of Real Madrid’s stars that give the team an international flavour are Weir, Caicedo and Bruun.
Scotland international Weir joined the Whites from Arsenal and the forward is the club’s all-time top scorer in the Women’s Champions League (9 goals).
On signing for the club, Weir cited one of the reasons for joining was the influence of her idol, club legend Zinedine Zidane.
The exciting Colombian winger Caicedo is currently in second place in the Women’s Champions League assist rankings (4), while the Madrid number 9, Bruun, is the joint-second top scorer in the competition this season (5). The Danish striker is averaging 0.84 goals per match.
As for national team players, the 2023 Women’s World Cup Spain squad boasted an impressive total of eight Madridistas.
One of these was left-back Olga Carmona, whose goal clinched the trophy for the Spaniards. Carmona is certainly not shy in front of goal and her stunning 40-yard lob – a contender for goal of the season – recently secured the important victory away in Bilbao against third-placed Athletic Club.
Off the pitch, the women’s club continues to achieve milestones – it recently became a profitable entity, generating an operating profit of 1.1 million euros last season.
One aspect that will also bolster revenue will be to attract more spectators to the home games, which the club has managed to do in recent years.
Indeed, there were rumours that the upcoming Champions League quarter-final tie against Arsenal would be played at the Santiago Bernabeu.
However, the club opted not to do so and the game will be at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, home to Real Madrid Femenino since 2021, where their average attendance is 2,000, about a third of the ground’s capacity.
Las Blancas have also doubled their spending budget in a bid to drive the team to success, as they aim to clinch their first-ever trophy and establish themselves as a powerhouse on the world stage.
An exciting new era of women’s European football lies in store with a new Champions League format to come, along with the introduction of the Uefa Women’s Europa Cup set for 2025/26 and the Fifa Women’s Club World Cup in 2028, and Real Madrid will be hoping these advances usher in a new golden era for the club.
The Whites are undoubtedly on the rise, but there is still a long way to go. However, if they could find a way past Arsenal to book their place in the semi-finals of the Women’s Champions League, this would represent another significant step for a club that is only a little over five years old.
