It’s Champions League week!

With Fiorentina Women set to take on Manchester City in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie on Wednesday, we’ve put together this rundown of ten key facts about the Viola’s history in the competition to get you in the mood!

1. Fiorentina’s all-time top scorer in the UWCL is Ilaria Mauro with four goals, but current striker Daniela Sabatino has scored five Champions League goals in her career for Brescia and Fiorentina
2. This is the second time that Fiorentina have faced an English side at the Round of 16 stage – it happened for the first time in 2018, when we played Chelsea
3. Fiorentina have always performed better on the road in this competition, with one win, two draws and two defeats from five away games compared to two wins and three heavy defeats from five games at home
4. The Viola are competing in the Round of 16 stage for the third time, having only failed to reach this stage of the competition once, when we were knocked out in the Round of 32 by Arsenal last season – we’ve never reached the quarter-finals
5. We played Fortuna Hjorring in the Round of 32 in both the 17/18 and 18/19 editions of the UWCL, beating them 2-1 at home and drawing 0-0 away in our maiden appearance in the competition before beating them 2-0 home and away the following year
6. Fiorentina have never had much luck in the UWCL draw, having been eliminated by the eventual winner or runner-up on each of first three appearances in the competition – our conquerors from last year, Arsenal, were knocked out in the next round by PSG
7. The last Italian side to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League was Brescia, who beat Liverpool and Fortuna Hjorring before losing to Wolfsburg in the 2015/16 season
8. Wolfsburg were our opponents in the Round of 16 in 2017, beating us 4-0 in Germany before completing the job following an entertaining 3-3 draw in Florence which saw Ellie Brazil score a late equaliser for us
9. Ilaria Mauro’s opener in that 3-3 draw is our fastest-ever goal in Europe, while Daniela Sabatino’s dramatic 95th-minute winner in Prague last time out is our latest-ever European goal
10. The Champions League will change format next season, with two different streams based on the ranking of each football association, followed by a group stage, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the grand final itself