Manchester City sent a statement to the rest of Europe as they defeated Barcelona, winners of the last two Champions League titles, 2-0 on Wednesday night. It was an outstanding collective effort from the English side on their first appearance in the competition proper since 2021, but the headlines were grabbed by 20-year-old defender Naomi Layzell, a surprise starter, as she contributed a goal and an assist to a thoroughly impressive win.
Despite hitting the post after just four minutes through Caroline Graham Hansen, Barca were surprisingly sloppy as they started their European title defence, though City do deserve some credit for that because of the intensity of their pressing. Gareth Taylor's side were right in the faces of their opponents and fired a warning shot of their own early on, when Lauren Hemp rattled the upright.
But after Laia Aleixandri had to perform defensive heroics with a block on the line to deny Ewa Pajor, it was an unlikely goal-scorer who broke the deadlock. Barca goalkeeper Cata Coll made a terrific save to deny Jess Park initially, but was all at sea from the resulting corner and City capitalised. Vivianne Miedema headed the ball across the face of goal and there was Layzell to bundle it home for the first of her senior career.
With England boss Sarina Wiegman watching on, Layzell then provided the killer ball after the break which allowed Khadija Shaw to confidently slot home and make it 2-0 with little over 10 minutes to go. It was against the run of play, Barca having upped the intensity in the second half, but that City shot-stopper Ayaka Yamashita rarely made anything more than a comfortable save will disappoint the Catalans as they suffered a surprising, though not undeserved, loss.
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