Champions League nights returned to the Joie Stadium yesterday evening as Manchester City hosted Paris FC following a 5-0 win in their away leg. Gareth Taylor’s side advanced to the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stages after a 3-0 home victory. The Manchester side held a clean sheet over both legs, and ended the qualifying stages with an 8-0 aggregate victory.
Thursday evening’s game saw Khiara Keating, Naomi Layzell, Laura Blindkilde Brown and Jess Park all make their Champions League debuts, with Khadija Shaw returning to Taylor’s European starting eleven after being unavailable last game due to a visa issue.
The Lineups
MCI: Keating; Layzell, Aleixandri, Greenwood (C), Fowler, Kelly, Kennedy, Park, Blindkilde Brown, Shaw, Hasegawa
PFC: Nnadozie; Bogaert, Greboval, Davis, Ould Hocine, Corboz, Le Mouël, Bussy, Thiney (C), Matéo, Bourdieu
The Action
Picking up from their 5-0 victory in Paris, Chloe Kelly put the Cityzens ahead in just the second minute in Manchester, providing the side with a perfect start. Following an error at the back from Paris FC’s keeper, Chiamaka Nnodizie, who was under pressure from the City attack, the English international intercepted the ball, before tapping it into the open net with ease.
In the opening ten minutes of the game, Paris FC struggled on the ball as City put them under a lot of pressure. The visitors created a few chances in the opening fifteen minutes of the game, particularly down the left-hand side, but they were unable to convert them.
Khadija Shaw added another for the hosts in the thirty-first minute, with Kelly providing the assist for last season’s Barclays WSL Golden Boot winner. Shaw drove the cross past Nnadozie, to end a dominant first half and open her Champions League account.
Following a quiet opening stage in comparison to the second half, Shaw was awarded a penalty after being tripped inside the box, which she converted calmly to get her second of the night despite Nnodizie guessing the right way for her diving effort.
Paris looked to come out stronger after the break, but they failed to create effective efforts to challenge the City defence. Towards the end of the half, academy youngster Lily Murphy replaced goal scorer Shaw and enjoyed a lot of freedom down the right-hand side while making good runs into the Paris box.
Manchester City into the hat for the Champions League Group Stage draw
Manchester City booked their place in the group stage, thanks to an early goal from Chloe Kelly inside the first two minutes and Khadija Shaw scoring either side of half-time for the first time since 2020-21.
The English side will find out their group-stage opponents today (Friday the 27th of September) when the draw is made at 12:00 pm BST.
