Barcelona vs. City: Women’s Champions League favorites duel
The Joey Stadium will be the scene of a battle between the titans of the competition’s premiere: the almighty Barcelona and the renewed City.
Barcelona And Manchester City This Wednesday they will meet in a match in which the reigning European champion and the current leader of the Premier League will compete for leadership in Group D of the tournament. Women’s League Champions ASAP.
Joey Stadium will be the scene of a battle of the titans in the premiere of Competition: Almighty Barcelonaundefeated leader of League F and City Gareth Taylor, a renewed team, as well as the sole leader of domestic competitions.
Although the Citizen team, unlike Pere Romeu’s team, are having a blank season and are not participating in European competition, the British team has had a great start to the season. And in the Premier League it comes with wins over West Ham and Brighton at home and a draw at home to Arsenal to top the table.
Despite this, the English team’s most notable fights did not take place in their league, but on the way to qualifying for the group stage of the championship. Champions League. They surpassed Paris FCone of the members of Group C of the previous edition, who scored two high-profile victories (0-5 and 3-0).
Besides the promising start, City Last year he had already completed his second year and was on the verge of winning the Premier League if not for the goal difference that eventually brought the title to the champions. Chelsea.
Despite this, Taylor’s side have emerged from several lean years, with little presence in Europe (their last great result, the best they achieved, was a Champions League semi-final in 2018) and without winning a title since 2022, the European Cup. League.
Recent history that contrasts with athletic uniforms Barçathree times European champion and the last two times in a row, as well as two more times he took second place and was the absolute champion in all domestic competitions.
Without going into details, we note that precedents between these two countries already demonstrate a difference in dynamics. These were in Champions League in the same year as Barcelona He won his first continental title in the 2020–2021 season.
So, Barça And City They ended up in the quarter-finals, where the Blaugranas returned to action in the first match (3-0), and in the return match the English tried to return to action with an insufficient victory (2-1), although it must be said that both compositions were completely changed.
As for the local team, there are now two ex-Azulgranas who were not part of the team at the time: defenders Laia Alexandri and Leila Ouhabi, while Keira Walsh, now of Barcelona, was playing for the team at the time. City.
However, the danger of the English team lies not in any of those mentioned, but in striker Lauren Hamp, midfielders Jesse Park and Vivianne Miedema, and center Khadijah Shaw.
Neither of Barcelonawhose scorers are radically different from the scorers of matches three years ago. Aitana Bonmati, who has already recovered from a cold that prevented her from playing in the last league match, in the center of the field, and Graham Hansen, in the wing position, are the main threats for a team whose performance is devastating in all areas and this has led to Eva Payor becoming leader in the absence of the injured Salma Paralluelo, also this Wednesday.
Yes, Alba Caño, the reserve team midfielder, and goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck signed a contract with the club. City this same summer. The British team, which will make its group stage debut following a change to the tournament format, also recently returned one of their key players after a ten-month absence: Jill Roord.
– Possible scenarios:
Manchester City: Yamashita; Kaspariy, Alexandri, Greenwood, Leila; Park, Yui Hasegawa, Miedema; Kelly, Shaw and Hamp.
Barcelona: Kata Call; Batlle, Paredes, Mapi Leon, Rolfo; Aitana, Walsh, Patri Guijarro; Graham Hansen, Pajor, Alexia.
Judge: Stephanie Frappart (France)
Stadium: Joey Stadium (Manchester, England).