UEFA Women's Europa Cup Preview: Wolfsburg and Frankfurt eye quarter-final spots

After their head-to-head game in the Frauen-Bundesliga, Eintracht Frankfurt and VfL Wolfsburg will now hope to advance to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Women's Europa Cup. Wolfsburg won Friday's duel 3-1 away from home to open a seven-point gap over third-placed Frankfurt in the standings.

Stephan Lerch's side will host league leaders FC Bayern at the AOK Stadion in a decisive fixture next Saturday. Although the champions extended their unbeaten league run to 50 games over the weekend, the gap between the two giants is only three points.

However, Wolfsburg first have to deal with the return leg of the Round of 16 tie in the Europa Cup. Since they beat the Vrouwen Eredivisie side Feyenoord 7-0 a fortnight ago, the two-time Champions League winners will most likely rest key players on Tuesday.

Feyenoord only played one game since the first leg as they ended their five-game losing streak in all competitions with a narrow win over Den Haag. Wolfsburg scored 15 goals in their first three games of a competition that started last season.

Eintracht Frankfurt were semi-finalists in the inaugural tournament, and they will hope to get closer to that when they host PSV on Wednesday. First-half goals from Aussie international Hayley Raso and the captain Laura Freigang secured a 2-0 first leg in Eindhoven for Niko Arnautis’ team.

If they qualify for the last eight, Frankfurt will face the winners of the tie between Real Sociedad and Fenerbahçe. The Spanish won the first leg 2-0 before Wednesday's anticipated fixture in Istanbul as Fener aim to play in front of 47,000 fans.

Wolfsburg's next path will be either Rosenborg or Brøndby. The two Scandinavian teams finished the first leg 1-1 a couple of weeks ago. The only way Wolfsburg and Frankfurt will meet in the Women's football Europa League equivalent would be in the two-legged final. 

Häcken won the inaugural competition with a 4-2 aggregate win over fellow Swedish side Hammarby.