Melbourne City will host an AFC Women’s Champions League quarter-final for the second consecutive season after the Ninja A-League premiers registered a flawless group-stage campaign in Vietnam.
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Last season’s runners-up needed to avoid defeat to clinch top spot and a home quarter-final midweek and City did just that thanks to goals from Holly McNamara, Alexia Apostolakis and Shelby McMahon.
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City – the top seed in 2025-26 – will now look ahead to hosting a Champions League quarter-final fixture in March as they bid to go one step further this season.
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“I think it’s super important,” City and CommBank Matildas star McNamara told reporters post-match.
“Last season when we played at home in the quarter-final, it really set the tone for the rest of the tournament for us.
“It’s an amazing opportunity to play in this competition in Melbourne. Get as many people as we can there and then hopefully that helps sets up for another semi-final and hopefully another final, and this time a win.”
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It was a flawless group-stage campaign for Michael Matricciani’s City.
City scored 15 goals and did not concede a goal after big wins over Singapore’s Lion City Sailors (5-0) and Stallion Laguna (7-0) of the Philippines.
WATCH HIGHLIGHTS FROM MELBOURNE CITY’S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WIN HERE
“I think we’re really happy with everything that happened in Vietnam. It was a great experience for us,” Matricciani said in his post-match press conference.
“We did what we came to do. We topped the group which was our number one target.
“To win all three games and keep all clean sheets is excellent.”
