Manchester City all but secured their place in the Women’s Champions League group stages as they demonstrated their class with a resounding away victory in the first leg of their qualifying tie against the French side Paris FC.
Gareth Taylor’s side were bizarrely unable to call upon their top goalscorer from last season, the Jamaica striker Khadija Shaw because, as revealed by the Guardian earlier on Wednesday, the club had failed to file a visa application in time for her to travel to France. However, in her absence, despite that rather embarrassing gaffe, the squad’s strength in depth in attack was clear to see as they confidently put five goals past the side that finished third in France’s top division last season. Not just that, their performance was fully deserving of such a wide margin of victory.
A debut strike from Manchester City’s marquee summer signing, the Women’s Super League’s record goalscorer Vivianne Miedema, plus a mesmerising goal scored by Jess Park, were followed in the second half by goals from the Australia forward Mary Fowler, Park and substitute Chloe Kelly, to give them an unassailable-looking advantage for the second leg in Manchester on 26 September.
It was not supposed to be so comfortable. This match-up had all the hallmarks of the proverbial banana skin for Manchester City, against a Paris FC side who remarkably knocked both Arsenal and the 2023 finalists Wolfsburg out of this competition during the qualifying rounds last season, before going on to beat Real Madrid at home and away during the group stage.
Manchester City knew all too well the dangers that can lurk in the early stages of the Champions League, having themselves come unstuck and been eliminated during the qualifying rounds in each of their past two European campaigns, and those memories made this scoreline all the more pleasing for Taylor. “We feel we could do well in this competition, but the hardest part is getting there, it really is,” he said.
“We were not at our fluid best, in the first 20 minutes, but as soon as Viv [Miedema] scored the goal, you could see the confidence go through the team and the second goal was a fabulous goal. Full credit to the girls. I’ve seen the difference in the last couple of days in their training, in their focus, which has been good.”
Juventus will take a two-goal lead into their second leg against Paris Saint-Germain after winning 3-1 in Biella. The hosts struck early, with Danish forward Amalie Vangsgaard breaking free and firing low past Mary Earps into the bottom corner. PSG hit back quickly through Thiniba Samoura, who found the top corner with her strike from the edge of the area in the 12th minute.
Sofia Cantore restored Juve's lead just past the half-hour mark, latching on to a through ball down the left, cutting inside and curling a shot that Earps got a hand to, but could not keep out of the net. The Italian side extended their lead on the hour as Hanna Bennison's first-time strike found the bottom corner, leaving last season's semi-finalists an uphill task to reach the group stages.
Wolfsburg, who were stunned by Paris FC in last year's final qualifying round, were determined to avoid a repeat as they thrashed Fiorentina 7-0. Alexandra Popp scored a hat-trick after Marina Hegering's early double to all but guarantee the German giants will return to the 16-team group stage this season.
In the Champions Path qualifiers, Benfica fought back to edge Hammarby 2-1, Cristina Gutierrez and Andreia Norton on target for the visitors after Julie Blakstad's opener for the Swedish title winners. Two late Evelyne Viens goals earned Italian champions Roma a 3-1 first-leg home win over Servette.
Focused they certainly seemed to be. Perhaps fuelled by the pain of past woes in Europe, they walked out onto Stade Charléty under a clear, blue September-evening sky with a purposeful determination. Thanks to the clever orchestration of their deep-lying midfielder Yui Hasegawa, the tireless off-the-ball work of all of the front five, and the movement of Park, Taylor’s team totally dominated possession and they took control of the tie with two first-half goals that were separated by one minute and 57 seconds. Between those, the debutant Aoba Fujino saw an effort touched on to the crossbar by Paris FC’s Nigeria goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie.
Miedema volleyed in her first goal for the club from Park’s cross, with the Netherlands’ leading scorer’s shot passing under Nnadozie’s dive. Park doubled the lead superbly following a short corner, which she collected herself before exchanging quick passes with Fowler and then Hemp – the latter a backheel – before tucking home to round off a stylish team move.
Nnadozie endured an embarrassing moment when she was caught in possession by Fowler to enable the Matilda to make it 3-0, before Park added her second of the night on the rebound from a Hemp header. By the time Kelly tapped in the fifth, Paris FC had been outclassed, even with last season’s WSL golden boot winner Shaw having to stay at home.
Taylor dismissed that administrative problem. “It was just a slight issue that we had and one that has been pretty much fixed, so it will be just this game. We were pretty calm about it. We quickly knew that Bunny [Shaw] wouldn’t be available so Mary [Fowler] was in and brought a lot to the team tonight.”
