Caicedo stars as Real Madrid defeats Arsenal 2-0 in women's Champions League, Lyon beats Bayern

Linda Caicedo shined on a rainy evening in the Spanish capital as Real Madrid beat Arsenal 2-0 in the first leg of the women’s Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Eight-time champion Lyon is eying the semifinals after a 2-0 win at Bayern Munich in their first-leg quarterfinal thanks to goals from Tabitha Chawinga and Melchie Dumornay.

Bayern goalkeeper Maria-Luisa Grohs saved Lindsey Heaps’ penalty before the break and made a host of other saves, too.

Caicedo, the 20-year-old Colombia star, opened the scoring in Madrid's Alfredo di Stéfano Stadium and proved a constant source of torment for the Arsenal defenders. Substitute Athenea grabbed the second goal late to put the Spanish side in a promising position to reach the semifinals.

Caicedo capitalized on Arsenal defender Leah Williamson’s botched effort to cut out Signe Bruun’s pass when she took a couple of strides forward to hold off Arsenal’s Emily Fox and fired the ball inside the left post in the 22nd minute.

Beth Mead went closest for Arsenal before the break.

Madrid suffered a blow in the 63rd when Melanie Leupolz went off with an apparent right knee injury after kicking the ball. The 16-year-old Irune Dorado went on in the German midfielder’s place.

Arsenal responded with a period of sustained pressure, albeit without reward, and Athenea scored on a counterattack in the 82nd. Arsenal goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger got her hand to the ball but couldn’t keep Athenea's powerful shot out.

“We knew how to endure,” Madrid coach Alberto Toril said. “In the Champions League there are important matches that you need to know how to play and that have many mini-matches within the games, and I think we did very well.”

Lyon and Arsenal will host their respective second-leg quarterfinal matches next Wednesday.

Madrid, a powerhouse in men’s soccer with a record 15 European titles, is bidding to reach the semifinals for the first time. The Spanish club was late to women’s soccer in comparison to rivals, only forming its women’s team after completing a merger and acquisition of another women’s soccer club in 2020.

The big clubs' belated investments in women's soccer have had an adverse effect on clubs like Sweden's Umeå IK and Germany's Turbine Potsdam.

The other quarterfinal matches are on Wednesday, when Wolfsburg faces defending champion Barcelona at home, before Manchester City hosts English rival Chelsea.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Bayern's Sarah Zadrazil, center, stands with her teammates during a break in the Women's Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Olympique Lyonnais at the FC Bayern Campus in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Lyon's Melchie Dumornay celebrates with teammate Lindsey Heaps, right, after scoring her side's second goal during the Women's Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Olympique Lyonnais at the FC Bayern Campus in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Lyon's Wendie Renard, Selma Bacha and goalkeeper Christiane Endler, from left, celebrate at the end of the Women's Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Olympique Lyonnais at the FC Bayern Campus in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Lyon's Wendie Renard, Selma Bacha and goalkeeper Christiane Endler, from left, celebrate at the end of the Women's Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between FC Bayern Munich and Olympique Lyonnais at the FC Bayern Campus in Munich, Germany, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Real Madrid's Signe Bruun, centre, runs towards her team mate Caicedo who scored the opening goal during the Women's Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Real Madrid and Arsenal at the Alfredo di Stefano stadium in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Fran Berg)

Real Madrid's Melanie Leupolz, left, is helped off the pitch after getting hurt during the Women's Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Real Madrid and Arsenal at the Alfredo di Stefano stadium in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Fran Berg)

Real Madrid's Athenea del Castillo , centre, celebrates with Real Madrid's captain Olga Carmona, right, after scoring his side's second goal during the Women's Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Real Madrid and Arsenal at the Alfredo di Stefano stadium in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Fran Berg)

Real Madrid's Athenea del Castillo , right, celebrates after scoring her side's second goal during the Women's Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Real Madrid and Arsenal at the Alfredo di Stefano stadium in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Fran Berg)

Real Madrid's Athenea del Castillo shoots to score her side's second goal during the Women's Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Real Madrid and Arsenal at the Alfredo di Stefano stadium in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Fran Berg)

Real Madrid players celebrate at the end of the Women's Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Real Madrid and Arsenal at the Alfredo di Stefano stadium in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Fran Berg)

Arsenal's goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger reacts at the end of the Women's Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Real Madrid and Arsenal at the Alfredo di Stefano stadium in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Fran Berg)

Arsenal's Chloe Kelly, left is chased by Real Madrid's Olga Carmona during the Women's Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Real Madrid and Arsenal at the Alfredo di Stefano stadium in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Fran Berg)

Arsenal's Emily Fox, centre, and Real Madrid's Linda Caicedo, right, challenge for the ball during the Women's Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Real Madrid and Arsenal at the Alfredo di Stefano stadium in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Fran Berg)

Real Madrid's Linda Caicedo runs with the ball during the Women's Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Real Madrid and Arsenal at the Alfredo di Stefano stadium in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Fran Berg)

Real Madrid's Athenea del Castillo , centre, celebrates with Real Madrid's captain Olga Carmona, right, after scoring her side's second goal during the Women's Champions League quarterfinal first leg soccer match between Real Madrid and Arsenal at the Alfredo di Stefano stadium in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Fran Berg)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched a second major drone and missile bombardment of Ukraine in four days, officials said Tuesday, aiming again at the power grid and apparently snubbing U.S.-led peace efforts as the war approaches the four-year mark.

Russia fired almost 300 drones, 18 ballistic missiles and seven cruise missiles at eight regions overnight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media.

One strike in the northeastern Kharkiv region killed four people at a mail depot, and several hundred thousand households were without power in the Kyiv region, Zelenskyy said. The daytime temperature in the capital was -12 C (around 10 F). The streets were covered with ice, and the city rumbled with the noise from generators.

Four days earlier, Russia also sent hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles in a large-scale overnight attack and, for only the second time in the war, it used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in what appeared to be a clear warning to Kyiv’s NATO allies that it won’t back down.

On Monday, the United States accused Russia of a “ dangerous and inexplicable escalation ” of the fighting, when the Trump administration is trying to advance peace negotiations.

Tammy Bruce, the U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that Washington deplores “the staggering number of casualties” in the conflict and condemns Russia’s intensifying attacks on energy and other infrastructure.

Russia has sought to deny Ukrainian civilians heat and running water in the freezing winter months over the course of the war, hoping to wear down public resistance to Moscow’s full-scale invasion, which began on Feb. 24, 2022. Ukrainian officials describe the strategy as “weaponizing winter.”

In Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, the Russian attack also wounded 10 people, local authorities said.

In the southern city of Odesa, six people were wounded in the attack, said Oleh Kiper, the head of the regional military administration. The strikes damaged energy infrastructure, a hospital, a kindergarten, an educational facility and a number of residential buildings, he said.

Zelenskyy said that Ukraine is counting on quicker deliveries of agreed upon air defense systems from the U.S. and Europe, as well as new pledges of aid, to counter Russia’s latest onslaught.

Meanwhile, Russian air defenses shot down 11 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Tuesday. Seven were reportedly destroyed over Russia’s Rostov region, where Gov. Yuri Slyusar confirmed an attack on the coastal city of Taganrog, about 40 kilometers (about 24 miles) east of the Ukrainian border, in Kyiv's latest long-range attack on Russian war-related facilities.

Ukraine’s military said domestically-produced drones hit a drone manufacturing facility in Taganrog. The Atlant Aero plant carries out design, manufacturing and testing of Molniya drones and components for Orion unmanned aerial vehicles, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Explosions and a fire were reported at the site, with damage to production buildings confirmed, the General Staff said.

It wasn't possible to independently verify the reports.

Katie Marie Davies contributed to this report from Manchester, England.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency services personnel work to extinguish a fire following a Russian attack in Kyiv region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)