Who makes our combined XI from the Women’s Champions League final four?

With the first legs of the Women’s Champions League semi-finals (Chelsea v Barcelona, and Wolfsburg v Arsenal) taking place this weekend we pick a combined XI from the four teams.

Goalkeeper: Merle Frohms (Wolfsburg)

This year’s Fifa The Best awards had Chelsea’s Ann-Katrin Berger in the top three goalkeepers in women’s football but Wolfsburg’s Merle Frohms, who has been in superb form since Euro 2022, gets the nod.

Jasmina Schweimler, who covers Die Wölfinnen for the Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung says: “She has grown a lot as a goalkeeper since she came back to the club from Eintracht Frankfurt [in 2022]. She has a great skills set, great reactions and is always involved in increasing the speed of the game whenever she has the ball.”

Berger is not far behind though and saved two penalties against Lyon to send Chelsea into the semi-finals. Arsenal’s Manuela Zinsberger and Barcelona’s Sandra Paños are good backup options.

Defence: Lucy Bronze (Barcelona), Mapi León (Barcelona), Leah Williamson (Arsenal) and Katie McCabe (Arsenal)

In our 4-3-3 formation, the defensive players must be able to adapt and be ready to participate in the team’s attacking play as well as being able to shift positions and move wide or narrow according to how the game flows. Barcelona’s game relies on a strong defence that can pass the ball quickly, which is why we have picked Lucy Bronze and Mapi León to play together on the right.

On the left we have opted for the Arsenal duo of Leah Williamson, who has been a consistent piece in their defensive lines alongside Rafaelle Souza and can also play in midfield, and Katie McCabe. The Ireland international is a natural choice on the left where she is happy to go forward and can do so at