Arsenal & Barcelona in Women’s Champions League – Results & Roundup

Defensive errors cost Arsenal dearly again on Tuesday as they began their defense of their Women’s Champions League title with a 2-1 home defeat to Lyon.

Alessia Russo gave Arsenal an early lead before Melchie Dumornay’s quick-fire double turned the game around for eight-time winners Lyon on the first day of the revamped tournament.

A season after the men switched from a group stage to a standings format, the women’s Champions League also made the adjustment.

Barcelona, which lost to Arsenal in last season’s final, crushed Bayern Munich 7-1 in one of the other three games played on Tuesday.

Arsenal had a difficult start to the season in England and failed to win their previous three games, but took the lead in the seventh minute against Lyon thanks to two of their players who won the European Championship.

Beth Mead’s sheer persistence saw her work her way into the box, drawing marks from several players before passing the ball to Russo, her England teammate, who fired into the bottom right corner.

Arsenal gave the visitors the equalizer in the 18th minute, when Daphne van Domselaar controlled a back pass but gave it directly to Dumornay. The Arsenal goalkeeper thought she had redeemed herself by saving the shot, but Dumornay took advantage of the rebound to beat her.

Another defensive lapse cost Arsenal five minutes later, allowing Dumornay to curl his shot into the top right corner.

Lyon lost to Arsenal in last season’s semi-finals.

The 18-team league phase ends in December. The clubs that finish from first to fourth place advance directly to the quarterfinals. Those classified from fifth to 12th go to a playoff.

The six worst teams are eliminated.

Substitute Clàudia Pina returned from injury and scored a late double to increase the score for Barcelona.

Pina missed Barcelona’s last league game with a thigh injury, but came on as a substitute at the start of the second half. At that point, Barcelona were already leading 4-1 and Ewa Pajor extended that lead moments later with her second of the night.

Two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas scored Barcelona’s first goal with a sublime curling shot and also contributed two assists.

Esmee Brugts and Salma Paralluelo scored the other goals for Barcelona, before and after a goal by Klara Bühl for Bayern.

Juventus defender Cecilia Salvai celebrated the tenth anniversary of her Champions League debut with her first two goals in the competition, and her team came from behind to beat Benfica 2-1 in the first match of the day.

Lucia Alves scored the first goal of the renewed competition in the sixth minute, tapping into Nycole Raysla’s cross with a wonderful close-range shot.

However, Juventus took control of the match from that point on, boosted by a lively performance from Barbara Bonansea on the right.

And the veteran Italy international was key to Juve’s equalizer in the 22nd, beating two players in the area before lifting the ball for Salvai to head out of Lena Pauels’ reach.

It was Salvai’s first goal in the competition, ten years after making his Champions League debut with Verona.

Juventus had numerous opportunities to take the lead and Bonansea saw a goal disallowed for offside shortly before half-time.

The Bianconere took victory in the 86th when a corner was deflected and Salvai extended a leg to volley it into the back of the net.

European debutants OH Leuven overcame a two-goal deficit to draw 2-2 at Paris FC.

The home team seemed to be in control after a dominant first half in which they took a 2-0 lead in 23 minutes thanks to Daphne Corboz and Clara Mateo.

However, Kim Everaerts scored early in the second half and Sara Pusztai scored the equalizer in the 62nd.

Leuven is the first Belgian team to reach the league stage or group stage of the competition.

AP Sports:

This story was translated from English by an AP editor with the help of a generative artificial intelligence tool.