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Manchester Metropolis produced an announcement win on their Girls’s Champions League return as Gareth Taylor’s aspect defeated holders FC Barcelona 2-0 of their Group D opener on the Joie Stadium.
Naomi Layzell, the 20-year-old defender signed from Bristol Metropolis in the summertime, put the hosts in entrance with a Thirty sixth-minute end, the primary objective of her profession to this point. Layzell then added an help to her memorable night as she arrange Khadija Shaw to attain the second with 13 minutes of regular time to go.
It was Metropolis’s first sport within the competitors correct since 2020-21, once they had crushed Barcelona 2-1 in a quarter-final second leg on the similar venue however misplaced 4-2 on combination.
Barca went on to carry the trophy for the primary time that season and have appeared in every of the three finals since, successful the final two.
Taylor had spoken earlier than this assembly of his pleasure at seeing his aspect take a look at themselves towards the staff he had little doubt are the very best within the girls’s sport – and may have been delighted on the efficiency that adopted.
Metropolis may need had extra objectives, with Lauren Hemp sending a shot towards the put up early within the contest.
Pere Romeu’s Barcelona additionally hit the put up, by Caroline Graham Hansen early on, however this was actually an off night time for the Catalan outfit, with stars like former Metropolis midfielder Keira Walsh and Ballon d’Or winners Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas unable to make a lot of an impression.
The opening moments noticed Barca come inside inches of taking the lead when Graham Hansen was performed in by Putellas and hit a shot onto the upright.
Metropolis responded impressively, placing the reigning champions underneath appreciable strain and, after Jess Park and Vivianne Miedema had seen efforts blocked, they rattled the woodwork themselves with Hemp’s strike hitting the put up simply previous the quarter hour.
Three minutes later there was a sigh of aid for the hosts after Miedema misjudged a backpass, Ewa Pajor took the ball previous Ayaka Yamashita and her shot was cleared off the road by Laia Aleixandri.
However they had been quickly again on the entrance foot and – after Catalina Coll pulled off a terrific save to maintain out Park’s shot – Metropolis made a deserved breakthrough from the ensuing nook, Miedema connecting with the supply to move the ball into the hazard zone, the place Layzell slid in to complete.
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After Graham Hansen had a low shot simply gathered by Yamashita late within the first half, Miedema did not take advantage of a superb probability early within the second, glancing a header vast from Alex Greenwood’s free-kick.
Barca then began to point out some momentum, with Putellas being thwarted by a terrific Laia block, Bonmati bringing a cease out of Yamashita and substitute Claudia Pina firing simply off-target from exterior the field.
Walsh was subsequent to attempt her luck, unleashing a shot from simply contained in the field within the seventieth minute, however once more Yamashita was equal to it and the Japan goalkeeper then tipped a Bonmati effort over the crossbar.
It had been a nervy spell for the house aspect, however inside moments they’d a vital second as Layzell fed Shaw, who went round Coll and rolled the ball into the online.
There was then a regarding finish to the sport for Layzell as she departed the sphere with an harm late on.
