Manchester United have it all to do in Germany next week after succumbing to a 3-2 first leg loss to a Bayern Munich team inspired by Pernille Harder, who scored twice.
The away supporters were singing ‘football’s coming home’ by the end, with their team now strong favourites for a semi-final spot after a night when the home side never quite showed their full potential.
Playing in the quarter-finals for the first time, this tie was the biggest United women’s team have experienced since reforming in 2018. Given the magnitude of the occasion the size of the crowd was somewhat underwhelming, most likely as a result of this being the first of two fixtures for United’s women at Old Trafford in four days. Saturday’s Manchester derby is understood to have attracted far stronger ticket sales. Those who did turn up where shocked though inside two minutes.
Bayern could scarcely of dreamt of a better start as they opened the scoring after 98 seconds with as simple a goal you could wish to score in a European knockout game. It took just one well-placed but routine ball over the top from Arianna Caruso to beat the United defence. Harder had the pace, deft touch and composure to hold off Maya Le Tissier and roll the ball into the bottom corner in front of an empty Stretford End.
It was Harder’s sixth goal of this Champions League campaign and 47th in the competition across her career, moving her up to fifth in the all-time standings above Brazil icon Marta. The home side were stunned and continued to look vulnerable for the subsequent 10 minutes before they gradually worked their way back into the contest and started to threaten themselves.
Their rally was rewarded when they won a penalty after Lea Schüller’s shot struck Glódís Perla Viggósdóttir’s arm. The United captain, Le Tissier, took a deep breath before placing her spot-kick low to the goalkeeper’s right. It was nowhere near the corner of the net but the England defender’s penalty was still struck with sufficient conviction and pace to comfortably beat Ena Mahmutovic.
The remainder of the first half was even and entertaining, with set pieces proving threatening for Bayern. Viggósdóttir volleyed over from a corner before Bernadette Kakounan clipped a glorious chance over the crossbar from another corner. At the other end against her former club, Schüller was getting into goalscoring positions for Marc Skinner’s side, but she firstly fired low and wide from the right-hand side before heading off-target from a Melvine Malard cross.
Bayern have been in peerless form domestically and are coasting towards the Frauen Bundesliga title, sitting 11 points clear at the top and unbeaten after 20 matches. United will have taken encouragement from matching them for large chunks of this first leg, albeit the early parts of the second half were cagey and slow, at odds with the relentless nature of Barcelona’s 6-2 victory at Real Madrid in the early kick-off. That quarter-final looks over but this should make for intriguing viewing in next Wednesday’s second leg at Munich’s Allianz Arena.
Quick GuideBarcelona crush Real Madrid to put one foot in semi-finals
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Barcelona put one foot into the last four of the Women’s Champions League with a comprehensive 6-2 first-leg victory away at Real Madrid. Ewa Pajor scored twice alongside goals from Esmee Brugts, Irene Paredes, Vicky López and a late Alexia Putellas penalty to give Barça a resounding victory at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium.
Linda Caicedo’s double for the hosts could not stop Madrid from falling to a heavy defeat before the two sides face off again in the quarter-final second leg in Barcelona next Thursday.
Barcelona cashed in on a bright start with two goals inside the first 13 minutes as Putellas set up Pajor to slide into an empty net before López’s cross found the head of Brugts, whose effort bounced in off a post.
Real Madrid got themselves back in the contest through Caicedo’s clever finish past Cata Coll but Barça restored their two-goal advantage before half-time through Paredes’s header from Clàudia Pina’s inviting corner. Barcelona were too good and things were beginning to get ugly after the break when Pajor struck again before Caroline Graham Hansen set up López to make it 5-1.
Madrid did not have much to get excited about in a contest dominated by Pere Romeu’s side but Caicedo gave the home side a glimmer of hope with her second of the night with a bullet into the top corner, before Putellas’a spot-kick sealed an impressive win for Barça. PA Media
By virtue of finishing fourth in the league phase, a point behind Chelsea, Bayern received a bye straight to this quarter-final. United had to come through an impressive 5-0 aggregate victory against Atlético Madrid in the playoff round to reach this stage in only their second ever European campaign and debut in the main part of the draw.
Skinner spoke before the first leg of his side looking forward to a “magical night of football” but both teams appeared to be approaching the second half with little spark.
Suddenly Harder provided one, running on to the substitute Momoko Tanikawa’s through ball and, in unerringly similar fashion to her opening goal except for using her opposite foot, slotting in low past Phallon Tullis-Joyce. Why the home side were defending with such a high line against a player with such strong running speed was a mystery.
Woken up by that goal, though, United rallied again and made it 2-2 soon after when Hanna Lundkvist rose highest at a corner to nod in an equaliser. Their joy was short-lived though as Tanikawa found space to bend a clinical finish into the far corner and give Bayern the lead for the third time, making United’s second-leg task look all the trickier.
