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 of attacking options 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 ahead of their 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 having only managed to reach the quarter-finals once since 2018. This time, fuelled by the pain of missing out on the domestic title on goal-difference last season, they walked out onto the athletics stadium Stade Charléty under a clear, blue September-evening sky with a purposeful determination and focus.
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. The visitors gave debuts not only to the former Arsenal forward Miedema, who was deployed in midfield, and to the Japan goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita – who was not forced into a save until the 68th minute – and her international teammate Aoba Fujino, whose inventiveness caused the hosts all manner of problems.
The English side showed patience before they let the shackles off and took control of the tie with two first-half goals that were separated by just one minute and 57 seconds. Between those two goals Fujino saw an effort touched onto 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.
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Taylor was able to make a flurry of substitutions to manage his players’ loads ahead of Sunday’s WSL trip to Arsenal at the Emirates on the league’s opening weekend, and their opponents will certainly have taken note of this statement performance in the French capital.
Paris FC (4-2-3-1): Nnadozie; Ould Hocine, Davis, Greboval (Sissoko, 58), N’Dongala (Bogaert, 69); Corboz, Korosec (Le Mouel, 58); Mateo, Thiney (Bussy, 58), Dufour (Garbino, 77); Bourdieu. Subs not used: Marques (gk), Flagellat (gk), Hunter, Mulot, Dufour
Manchester City (4-3-3): Yamashita; Casparij, Aleixandri (Kennedy, 86), Greenwood, Ouahabi; Park (Coombs, 79), Hasegawa, Miedema (Blindkilde Brown, 74); Fujino (Kelly, 74), Fowler, Hemp (Murphy, 79). Subs not used: Keating (gk), Startup (gk), Layzell, Coombs, Prior, Thomas, O’Carroll