Key events
There’s plenty happening in this one, so you can leave me for a bit (please come back).
And here’s Tom Garry’s preview:
Keira Walsh returns to her old club, where she won the WSL, FA Cup and League Cup before departing shortly after Euro 2022 for a world-record fee. Worth reading this from a year ago.
The teams
Here we go. Barcelona make six changes from the side that started in the 8-1 (!) win over Madrid CFF, while City make four tweaks from the team that beat West Ham: Layzell, Park, Miedema and Shaw are all in.
Tonight’s team news! ⭐️
XI | Yamashita, Layzell, Aleixandri, Greenwood (C), Miedema, Fowler, Hemp, Park, Casparij, Shaw, Hasegawa
SUBS | Keating, Startup, Coombs, Kelly, Roord, Kennedy, Ouahabi, Blindkilde Brown, Fujino, Prior, Thomas, Murphy#ManCity | #UWCL pic.twitter.com/hLpmJm0xmZ
— Manchester City Women (@ManCityWomen) October 9, 2024
Preamble
“They’re the best team in the world,” said Manchester City’s head coach, Gareth Taylor. He was, of course, referring to tonight’s opposition, the Champions League winners this year and last year too, the ones who trumped a treble with a quadruple, the lot with Putellas, Bonmatí, Walsh and more: Barcelona.
Yes, the all-conquering outfit are at the Joie Stadium, meeting City in the first round of Women’s Champions League group-stage games this season. It’s a gigantic task but the hosts can take some inspiration from Chelsea, who managed to nick a win in their semi-final first leg against Barcelona last season (feel free to ignore the second). This isn’t an impossible job.
City head into this as WSL table-toppers, securing victory against West Ham on the weekend while leaving Khadija Shaw and Vivianne Miedema on the bench. Barcelona are five wins from five in the league, having scored, um, 18 goals in their last two games. This should be interesting. Kick-off’s at 8pm BST.
