The Uefa Women's Champions League quarter-final first legs are on Tuesday and Wednesday and here we highlight four players looking to get their teams off to winning starts in the knockout phase.
Signe Bruun (Real Madrid)
Madrid are in only their second quarter-final, three years after their last-eight exit to Barcelona and face a team contesting this round for a joint-record 16th time, Arsenal. Given they lost twice to another London side, Chelsea, in the group stage, the omens are not entirely promising for Madrid but the presence of their leading scorer gives them hope.
It's not just the fact that the Danish forward is improving on her already goal-filled first season with Madrid, including five strikes in the Champions League group stage; but also that she already has to her name a quarter-final winner against Arsenal, in 2020 for Paris Saint-Germain. The former Fortuna Hjørring attacker then had spells with Lyon and, on loan, Manchester United (where her league debut was a 1-1 draw at Arsenal) and since going to Madrid in 2023, Bruun has proved a reliable scorer and creator of goals.
Marina Hegering (Wolfsburg)
Wolfsburg have been handed the task of taking on holders Barcelona, two years on from the Eindhoven final where the German club led 2-0 at half-time but lost 3-2. Hegering, who was completing her first Wolfsburg season after leaving Bayern, only played the last six minutes that day, yet she has become a crucial defender at the club and last summer decided not to join the coaching staff as planned but instead play on for another campaign.
In 2009, a teenage Hegering featured in both legs as Duisburg beat Zvezda-2005 to win the last edition of the Uefa Women's Cup before it became the Champions League (she turned 19 between the two matches). Her 2023 final cameo is the former German international's only other appearance in a decider in a career often blighted by injury, but her experience, leadership and ability will be just what Wolfsburg need as they seek to dethrone Barcelona.
Lindsey Heaps (Lyon)
Even by the American midfielder's standards it has been a memorable season and not just because the player previously known as Lindsey Horan got married in late December. Since captaining the United States to Olympic gold in Paris last August, Heaps has enjoyed a prolific campaign in front of goal in the Première Ligue and has continued to be hugely influential for Lyon, often in the hole behind the main striker, as they target a third Champions League final in her three-and-a-half seasons at the club.
Bayern await in the quarter-finals but having already scored a penalty and been Player of the Match at Wolfsburg this season, Heaps has shown her ability to perform away to a German club. From open play and set pieces, she's a huge attacking threat.
Khadija Shaw (Manchester City)
The Jamaica forward's influence at Man City can be underlined by their slump in form while Shaw was out injured during December and January; City suffered costly defeats both domestically and also in the Champions League, where a 3-0 loss at Barcelona denied them first place in their group and quarter-final seeding, leaving them to face English rivals Chelsea. However, Shaw is now back in the team and back among the goals.
This, remember, is the player who struck to seal October's Matchday 1 victory over Barcelona as well as the only goal last February when City won 1-0 away to Chelsea in the league. Chelsea would pip Shaw and company to the title on goal difference and although the 28-year-old drew a blank when her team lost at Stamford Bridge in November, she was a constant threat and might well be the key if City want to secure a first Champions League semi-final in seven years.
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