Levante lost to the local team of Dutch Twente 3-2, after wasting a two-goal lead, in the final of the first qualifying phase of the previous round for the Women's Champions League and said goodbye to the competition.
The coach, José Luis Sánchez Vera, was critical of the team at the end of the match: "You have to reflect a lot. It's a game that we lose. You have to compete for 96 minutes and if you sleep with the greats, they'll distance you." The captain of Levante and recent world champion Alba Redondo was also disappointed: "In these games you are either involved or you are not. They have taken it where they wanted and we have lacked experience. Screwed because ten months go away in one game"
The match, played at the Sportpark Schreurserve in the Netherlands, turned very early on for the Spanish team, who started the match in a formidable way and within twenty minutes they were in control of the scoreboard with a 2-0 score, which made the final very favorable. .
After a quarter of an hour, the Colombian Mayra crossed from the right wing and Paula Tomás, who had warned before with a volley that saved the local goalkeeper, did not forgive this time and headed on goal. Barely a few minutes had passed when the world champion Alba Redondo raised the second to the score after a great header from a corner kick.
Levante could have scored the third but forgave and the Dutch closed the gap in the 33rd minute through Jansen and, two minutes from the end of the first half, Aueé tied the score.
The equality that dominated the second half was broken halfway through Te Brake itself, which culminated the Dutch comeback against the delirium of the stands. Levante searched hard for the equalizing goal, but the locals knew how to maintain their advantage to take the victory
The first qualifying round of the Champions League has left surprises such as the eliminations of Juventus and Arsenal. The Italians fell to Eintracht Frankfurt, while the English have gone from being semi-finalists in the last edition to losing to Paris FC. Results like these have revived the debate about this new classification model that forces teams that have gone far in the previous edition to go through a previous round, such as Arsenal or Wolfsburg or PSG, which enter round 2 The other Spanish team that must earn a place in the group stage will also enter the second round, Real Madrid, who will find out their rival in the draw that will be held on September 15.
The teams that will participate in the second round are these, according to the access route:
Route of Champions: Ajax, Apollo, Benfica, Brann, Glasgow City, Roma, Rosengård, St. Petersburg. Pools, Slavia Prague, Spartak Subotica, Universitatea Olimpia Cluj, Valur, Vorskla, Zurich
Ruta de Liga: Frankfurt, Häcken, Manchester United, Paris FC, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Sparta Praha, Twente, Vålerenga, Wolfsburg
The seven champions of the Champions Route and the five of the League Route will join the current champion, FC Barcelona, and the champions of the three best leagues (according to UEFA ranking) in the group stage. Thus, Olympique de Lyon (France), Bayern (Germany) and Chelsea (England) have direct access together with Barça, since the third best-ranked association is the Spanish one, which already has its ticket guaranteed.
