Manchester City Women 2 Barcelona Femení 0

After two seasons away from the Women’s Champions League, Manchester City marked their return with a statement win against Barcelona, the defending champions.

Before the game, City manager Gareth Taylor said Barcelona were “the best team in the world”. However, his side managed to inflict a first loss in six months on the Catalan giants.

City’s opener was scored by 20-year-old Naomi Layzell – her first senior goal. She was involved in the hosts’ second as well, timing a perfect pass to Khadija Shaw, who took a touch inside the box and slotted home.

Speaking after the game, Taylor praised Layzell’s “unbelievable” performance in just her second Champions League appearance, and said: “It is special. If you get to know Naomi, you’d say it doesn’t really surprise you, not that she’s arrogant or anything like that – she’s very humble, very coachable and takes on information very well.

“She’s not playing in her favoured position at right-back, she’s profiled as a centre-back, but for her to play in the way she has done for us, she’ll be on cloud nine tonight.”

The home side showed great grit as Barcelona were relentless in their press, creating chance after chance in their trademark style.

City faced a nervy start as the Catalan side almost scored within 20 minutes when City goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita was dispossessed in the box by Ewa Pajor. She fired the ball towards the empty net and the fans in the sold-out Joie Stadium held their breath as Laia Aleixandri quickly slid across to block it from crossing the line.

After that moment, City were on the front foot and created a few chances in quick succession. Their breakthrough came in the 36th minute – and after that, the home fans were treated to a very nervy hour as the visitors pressed relentlessly. The defenders pulled off some impressive last-ditch blocks and Yamashita did well to keep the ball out.

Shaw’s goal in the 77th minute led to a collective sigh of relief around the stadium and from that moment on, City were firmly back in the game.

This was Barcelona’s first loss of the season, and in fact the first time they have not won a game since April, when Emma Hayes’s Chelsea defeated them 1-0.

Beating the three-time European champions is a big statement from the English team.

Speaking after the match, Taylor made sure to temper expectations, saying: “I will downplay that – I think we’ve taken a step forward tonight, it’s a big step forward and we’re super -honoured to be in the competition. We’re enjoying the journey and feel we just need to do ourselves justice.”

However, after batting aside the European champions in their very first match, City fans might be thinking this is the year their team could go further than ever before.

Match details

Manchester City Women (4-3-3): Yamashita, Layzell, Aleixandri (Kennedy 90), Greenwood, Casparij, Park (Roord 79), Hasegawa, Miedema, Fowler (Fujino 81), Shaw, Hemp.
Goals: Layzell (36), Shaw (77).
Bookings: Aleixandri.
Subs not used: Keating, Startup, Coombs, Kelly, Ouahabi, Brown, Prior, Thomas, Murphy.
Barcelona Femení (4-3-3): Cata Coll, O Batlle, Engen (Pina 64), Leon, Rolfo (Brugts 73), Aitana (Lopez 86), Walsh (Nazareth 86), Patri, Graham, Pajor, Alexia (Paredes 86).
Bookings: Leon, Graham.
Subs not used: Font, Roebuck, Fernandez, Torrejon, Martina, Cano.
Referee: Stéphanie Frappart (Fra).
Attendance: 5,508.