UEFA Women’s Champions League Preview: FC Bayern vs. Manchester City
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FC Bayern Frauen will start their UEFA Women’s Champions League campaign at home against WSL champions Manchester City on Tuesday. José Barcala’s side is the only Frauen-Bundesliga representative in the league phase of the competition after Wolfsburg and Eintracht Frankfurt exited in the third qualifying round.
Like the previous season, Bayern started their campaign with a perfect record. After a 3-0 Supercup win over Wolfsburg, the defending champions won each of their first five league games. Although their only clean sheet was recorded against newly-promoted Mainz, they found the net 18 times.
Edna Imade and Jovana Damnjanović starred when Bayern extended their winning streak with a 5-2 win against Köln on Saturday. The Bavarians are the only Frauen-Bundesliga team with a perfect record.
Manchester City also won their first three WSL games this season. Two goals after the 90th-minute mark helped Andrée Jeglertz’s side to keep their record with a 4-2 victory over renovated Liverpool on Saturday.
The Swede coach led the club to their first league title in a decade with a dominant performance last season. The contract extension of top-scorer Khadija Shaw boosted their hopes of repeating that feat as the Jamaican international was expected to join league rivals Chelsea until a late turnaround.
Shaw started the new campaign with four goals, while they added reinforcements in Beth Mead, Niamh Charles and ex-Leverkusen defender Carlotta Wamser. Similar to FC Bayern, Manchester City’s best result in Europe is reaching the semi-finals.
Bayern beat WSL side Arsenal in the league phase of the competition last term before knocking Manchester United with a 5-3 aggregate win in the quarter-final. Eventual champions FC Barcelona got the better of them in the last four.
Team News
Barcala rested key players in the game against Köln, with Germany internationals Klara Bühl and Giulia Gwinn unused substitutes. Champions League veteran Pernille Harder and promising fullback Franziska Kett featured off the bench, while Momoko Tanikawa only played the first-half.
Stine Ballisager, Lena Oberdorf, Magdalena Eriksson and Bernadette Amani all missed the weekend’s game due to an injury. As for the visitors, the German duo Rebecca Knaak (ankle) and Sydney Lohmann (muscle) are yet to feature this season. Similarly, they started the campaign without Vivianne Midema (knee), Risa Shimizu (quad) and Charles (ankle).
Predicted Lineups
FC Bayern: Mahmutovic; Kett, Gilles, Viggosdottir ©, Gwinn; Amani, Tanikawa; Bühl, Harder, Dallmann; Damnjanović
Manchester City: Yamashita; Wamser, Greenwood ©, Rose, Casparij; Hasegawa, Blindkilde; Hemp, Fujino, Fowler; Shaw
