PARIS: Barcelona bounced back from an opening-day defeat to thrash Hammarby 9-0 in the Women’s Champions League on Wednesday, while Bayern Munich fought to a 2-0 win at Juventus.
Holders Barca routed their Swedish opponents in Catalonia, putting down a marker after slumping to a shock loss to Manchester City last week.
Goals by Caroline Graham Hansen, Claudia Pina and Alexia Putellas put the hosts in charge by half-time.
Mapi Leon added a fourth and Pina and Graham then doubled their tallies either side of an Ewa Pajor strike, before Esmee Brugts and Fridolina Rolfo completed the rout.
Graham opened the scoring after 10 minutes and Pina struck on 24 minutes, before Putellas was left free in the box to glance in Barca’s third just before the interval.
Leon headed in on 53 minutes as the second-half floodgates opened with four goals coming in the space of 22 minutes.
A 90th-minute penalty by Sweden’s Rolfo meant Barcelona equalled their 9-0 Champions League thumping of Benfica in 2022.
Man City came from behind to beat St. Poelten 3-2 in a topsy-turvy encounter in Vienna thanks to goals from Alanna Kennedy, Aoba Fujino and Mary Fowler.
Kennedy sent City 1-0 up on five minutes with a fierce drive from 35 yards that veered away from the goalkeeper’s lunge on its way into the net via the post.
The hosts struck back as City failed to deal with a corner and Melanie Brunnthaler pounced in the 40th minute.
The Austrians then took a surprise lead eight minutes after half-time when Kamila Dubcova volleyed into the top corner.
But Japanese forward Fujino opened her account for the visitors just four minutes later and then with 10 minutes remaining, Fowler rose highest to head the winner and send City top of Group D on six points.
Goals either side of the break from Linda Dallmann and Pernille Harder earned Bayern Munich a narrow win in north-eastern Italy.
With two wins from two, German champions Bayern sit top of Group C, three points clear of Arsenal in second spot.
“We have started very well, but the work is not done. We’ve played Arsenal and Juventus, two strong teams, but there’s still a long way to go,” said Bayern coach Alexander Straus.
Bayern broke Juventus resistance in the 18th minute when Dallmann managed to hack the ball over the goal-line from close range after it had ricocheted around the box following a corner.
In the second half, Juventus went forward in search of an equalizer with Bayern seeking to stifle the opposition and see out the match.
However, Juve’s defensive set-piece woes allowed the away team to seal victory in the 73rd minute as Harder fired in her fourth goal of the campaign from a corner.
Arsenal got their campaign back on track after losing to Bayern first time out as they beat Valerenga 4-1 at the Emirates Stadium, in their first match since the departure of coach Jonas Eidevall.
Emily Fox gave Arsenal the perfect start after barely 61 seconds when she swept home from inside the six-yard box.
The hosts doubled their lead on 29 minutes through Caitlin Foord, before Olaug Tvedten halved the deficit 10 minutes before half-time but Mariona Caldentey and Alessia Russo struck late to make safe Arsenal’s first win of the campaign.
On Thursday, Wolfsburg host Lyon in a clash of two multiple past winners of the tournament and English champions Chelsea travel to Twente.
Barca hit nine in Women’s Champions League, Bayern overcome Juve
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Barca hit nine in Women’s Champions League, Bayern overcome Juve
Own goal enough for Al-Ahli as Matchday 24 win keeps pressure on Al-Nassr
- Al-Ahli eke out 1-0 win over Al-Riyadh to keep pressure on Al-Nassr
- Milan Borjan own goal separated the sides at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium
RIYADH: Matchday 24 of the Saudi Pro League kicked off on Thursday, less than 24 hours after the conclusion of the delayed Matchday 10. With the FIFA Arab Cup, World Cup Qualifiers and FIFA World Cup sandwiching the 2025/26 campaign, resting periods have been few and far between outside the international breaks.
With fixtures coming thick and fast, Al-Ahli opted to rest Riyad Mahrez and Enzo Millot for their clash with Al-Riyadh in the capital. Ramadan has further challenged the league schedule, with Matthias Jaissle’s side only arriving in Riyadh at 5:30pm — just hours before kick-off.
With their previous outing against Damac still dominating conversation, Jaissle was keen to ensure his players did not fall into the same trap — namely, being caught off guard by an opponent’s unexpectedly proactive style.
To his relief, Al-Ahli were largely in control this time. Yet the absence of Mahrez limited their creative spark. Relying heavily on Wenderson Galeno down the left, Al-Riyadh did well to crowd the Brazilian and deny him space to operate.
The bane of any expansive side is a compact 5-4-1, and that is precisely how Al-Riyadh’s recently appointed Brazilian manager Mauricio Dulac set his team up. A long-time assistant to former Al-Riyadh coach Odair Hellmann, this marks Dulac’s first managerial role.
Al-Ahli’s attacking routes were severely restricted throughout the first half. Al-Riyadh denied them the opportunity to press high, Mahrez’s trademark diagonals were absent, and finding Ivan Toney in the six-yard box proved a difficult task.
On the rare occasions the visitors broke the defensive line, Milan Borjan stood firm in goal — there was no getting past the Canadian.
That was until first-half stoppage time. Al-Ahli had one more weapon in their arsenal: set-pieces. A lofted delivery from Galeno’s free-kick met the head of Roger Ibañez, who nodded the ball towards goal. Borjan pushed it away, but it was too late — the ball crossed the line.
VAR intervened within seconds. Ibañez was a shoulder offside, and the opener was chalked off. It was a notable twist, particulary as the simultaneous fixture between Al-Fateh and Damac in Al-Ahsa featured a celebration aimed squarely at Al-Ahli and VAR.
Earlier in the week, Damac equalised late against Al-Ahli via Yakou Méïté, only for the goal to be overturned. Méïté reacted angrily and lashed out at referees, but Al-Ahli escaped with the three points. Méïté followed up with a goal against Al-Fateh, and celebrated by mimicking the referee’s VAR signal.
Back in Riyadh, Al-Ahli returned for the second half with renewed intensity. Zakaria Hawsawi grew more adventurous from left-back, threading lofted balls over the Al-Riyadh defence.
In the 53rd minute, he found Toney behind the last defender, but the Englishman’s volley was adeptly saved by Borjan. Five minutes later, Galeno latched onto Hawsawi’s cross and thought he had broken the deadlock — only for the linesman’s flag to rise once again.
Al-Ahli pushed, but as time ticked away, it seemed the coveted winner would elude them. However, once again, set pieces proved decisive.
In the 75th minute, a corner from Saleh Abu Al-Shamat was parried by Borjan, only for his effort to be bundled into his own net, sending the travelling supporters into a frenzy.
After last week’s scare, Al-Ahli knew they had to finish the job. Cue Ibañez, who surged forward from deep before slipping the ball through to Toney to seal the game with what would have been his 24th goal of the season. The run itself deserved a goal, but Toney was flagged inches offside.
Despite another difficult outing, Al-Ahli did enough to secure a clean sheet and grind out a 1-0 victory to move top on 59 points — one ahead of Al-Nassr, who are yet to play this weekend.
Elsewhere, Méïté’s equaliser was later cancelled out by a 77th-minute Mourad Batna penalty, in a match that saw fans commemorate him for surpassing 100 goal contributions with Al-Fateh.
Batna had earlier missed from the spot to the frustation of the home fans, but Al-Fateh’s undefeated streak against Damac at home remains intact as the encounter ended 1-1.
Saudi Pro League action resumes on Friday, with Al-Hazem hosting Al-Ettifaq, Al-Ittihad welcoming Al-Khaleej, and one of Riyadh’s top derbies in Al-Shabab and Al-Hilal. All games kick-off at 10:00pm, in the league’s unified Ramadan schedule.
