Manchester City Women 2, Barcelona Femeni 1 (UEFA Women’s Champions League, Barcelona win 4-2 on aggregate)
Manchester City inflicted a first defeat on Barcelona Femeni this season with goals by Janine Beckie and Sam Mewis but it wasn’t enough to prevent their Champions League exit.
There was hope for Manchester City for almost an hour in a tight quarter final contest at the City Football Academy.
Janine Beckie had put City into an early lead and Ellie Roebuck and Lucy Bronze had performed miracles prevent Barcelona from getting an away goal.
But it wasn’t to last as Barca pounced on a missed clearance after going close several times.
Asisat Oshoala clipped home the crucial away goal for Barcelona after City failed to clear the ball and the tie was effectively over even though Sam Mewis put away a late spot kick to win the second leg for City.
It will be a bittersweet ending for this season’s campaign as they lost the tie 4-2 on aggregate but there will be positives to take from the game – not least the guile and inventiveness of Rose Lavelle who was a key player for City on the day.
Barcelona coach Lluis Cortes praised City’s opening spell in which they scored and threatened a comeback.
He said: “In the first 25 minutes we weren’t as good as we would have wanted but we are happy we are through.
“They needed the first goal more than us, and there were some situations 2v1 which were difficult for us.”
After inflicting a first defeat on Barcelona this season City manager Gareth Taylor revealed that told his players the performance showed that they were a good team and they could have done with some good fortune in the tie.
“It was fine margins in both legs but I take my hat off to Barcelona – they took their chances in the first leg.
“We knew we were on the tough side of the draw but it’s a great experience for us and we look forward to the next season.
“We made four changes to freshen things up as we play again on Sunday.”
“Losing Lauren [Hemp] was disappointing because she’s in form at the moment.
“Esme Morgan was great today. She was very aggressive and good on the ball today [against Caroline Graham Hansen].
He picked out Ellie Roebuck for special praise after an excellent performance in goal:
“The sky’s the limit for Ellie, she’s a great girl to work with.
“Really mature for her age and enjoys the challenge.
“She made really good decisions today in possession and with the saves she made – coming off the line.
“We knew we would need to call on her in both legs – she’s done herself proud today.”
Taylor was still without Steph Houghton (Achilles) while the experienced Demi Stokes suffered an injury in her return to action against Reading.
He made four changes to the side that narrowly beat Reading on Saturday.
Esme Morgan replaced Stokes while Sam Mewis came into the side along with Janine Beckie and Ellen White to lend more height to City.
It marked a rare start for all three of City’s American internationals at the same time as Rose Lavelle retained her place in the side that was looking to score at least three goals against a Barcelona side that had not conceded a goal their last 12 games in all competitions and had let in just three league goals all season.
Lauren Hemp, who created the match winner on Saturday, was not in the squad after coming down with an ear infection while Caroline Weir and Georgia Stanway were named on the bench.
City’s Spanish visitors certainly brought the sunshine with them as the game kicked off in summer warmth.
Chloe Kelly’s early cross was out behind for a corner as City looked to start in the front foot.
But although they also had to defend robustly, clearing a corner from Maria Leon after Morgan had intercepted a ball from the dangerous Caroline Graham Hansen, Kelly sent another cross into the area but too close to Sandra Panos.
Lavelle was showing her inventiveness into the final third, and looped a half cleared corner by Alex Greenwood onto the top of the net.
Morgan strode into the Barca area and slid the ball to Beckie whose shot was straight at Panos from an acute angle as the chances kept coming.
Lavelle was showing off plenty of flair, earning a corner from which Greenwood created the opening goal when Barcelona failed to clear her set piece, Mewis got there first to flick it on and Beckie reacted quickest – stabbing the loose ball in from close range after 20 minutes.
Kelly won a free kick after she tried to emulate Hemp’s match winning run from Saturday into the area only to be stopped by Patricia Guijarro but Greenwood’s set piece delivery this time was blocked.
Beckie drilled another shot over the bar and had another shot saved by Panos after Lavelle, now looking confident, twice found her on the right flank.
Mewis forced another save from Panos from Kelly’s corner.
But Barca could not be ruled out and steadily improved after their shaky start and they somehow failed to score at the other end.
Lucy Bronze and Ellie Roebuck heroics not enough as City go down fighting
Lucy Bronze made a latch ditch clearance off the goal line after Ellie Roebuck’s clearance from Caroline Graham Hansen’s shot had come off Asisat Oshoala before the full back kept City in the tie.
Roebuck was in action again after the restart after she sustained nasty looking injury to her right ankle while bravely coming off her line to nick the ball off Oshoala afresh was sent clean though.
Ellen White tested Panos as City started to go longer and Roebuck had no qualms in coming way out of her area to clear after City conceded another breakaway for Oshoala.
But there was heart break for City just before the hour mark as Oshoala got the away goal that meant City would need four more to beat the visitors when Greenwood’s clearance was charged down and Patricia Guijarro cut the ball back for the Barca striker to score with City in disarray.
City kept going, though, and White was brought down in the Barca area for penalty after 66 minutes after receiving a pass from Mewis which the American duly despatched beyond the reach of Panos.
With nothing to lose City made their first changes with 18 minutes to go, introducing Weir and Stanway coming on for Bronze and White.
Roebuck made another fine save at the feet of Oshoala after she had outpaced Dahlkemper to reach a through ball but left too much of it on show for the City keeper.
Oshoala was replaced after landing heavily, with Barca looking to protect their aggregate lead – bringing on Vicky Losada and Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic – they had already protected Caroline Graham Hansen early by replacing her with Leike Martens.
Martens missed a great chance to level the game in added time for Barca, sending a shot wide of the back post while Lavelle’s clever flick into the box saw Park’s shot deflected just wide of the near post right at the end.
Mewis and Kelly had been replaced by Laura Coombs and Jess Park with the sun setting on City’s Champions League ambitions until next season.
GOALS – Manchester City Women 2, Barcelona Femeni 1 (UEFA Women’s Champions League, Barcelona win 4-2 on aggregate)
Man City Women 1, Barcelona Femeni 0: 20. Alex Greenwood’s corner was eventually turned in by Janine Beckie from close range after Barcelona failed to clear it after Sam Mewis got there first.
Man City Women 1, Barcelona Femeni 1: 59. Asisat Oshoala slotted the equaliser after an Alex Greenwood clearance was charged down and Patricia Guijarro cut the ball back for her to score with City out of shape.
Man City Women 2, Barcelona Femeni 1: 68. Sam Mewis put City back into the lead from the penalty spot, rolling it into the bottom left corner beyond the reach of Sandra Panos after Ellen White had been brought down.
MATCH STATS – Manchester City Women 2, Barcelona Femeni 1 (UEFA Women’s Champions League, Barcelona win 4-2 on aggregate)
Man City Women: Roebuck, Bronze (Weir 72), Dahlkemper, Greenwood, Morgan, Lavelle, Walsh, Mewis (Coombs 80), Kelly (Park 86), Beckie, White (C) (Stanway 72)
Man City Women subs not used: Benameur Taieb, Mannion, Davies
Booking: Kelly 40 (foul on Marta Torrejon)
Goals: Beckie 20; Mewis 68 pen
Barcelona Femeni: Panos, Torrejon, Pereira (Vilamala 88), Leon (Losada 79), Ouahabi, Bonmati, Guijarro, Putellas (C), Graham Hansen (Martens 61), Caldentey (Fernandez 88), Oshoala (Crnogorcevic 79)
Barcelona Femeni subs not used: Coll, Codina, Serrano
Booking: Guijarro 29 (foul on Chloe Kelly)
Goal: Oshoala 60
Referee: Monika Mularczyk