Roma 1 - 0 Wolfsburg FT On balance of shots taken Wolfsburg should win this match... yet finishing was actually poor on both sides. Roma takes the hard-fought win... but truth be told outside of their defense this team doesn't look very convincing going forward atm.
Chelsea 3 Real Madrid 2 Very entertaining, Chelsea more or less in control then let Real come back twice in the game. Madrid with so many attacking players on the bench..
Group A Olympique Lyon -------- 1m ----- 3p ----- 3-0 AS Roma ------------------- 1m ----- 3p ----- 1-0 VfL Wolfsburg ----------- 1m ----- 0p ----- 0-1 Galatasaray --------------- 1m ----- 0p ----- 0-3 Olympique Lyon 3 - 0 Galatasaray Diani 34' 77', Gilles 45' (att: 3 650) Roma 1 - 0 Wolfsburg Giugliano 14'(p.) (att: 1 345) Group B FC Twente ----------- 1m ----- 3p ----- 2-0 Chelsea FC ---------- 1m ----- 3p ----- 3-2 Real Madrid --------- 1m ----- 0p ----- 2-3 Celtic ------------------- 1m ----- 0p ----- 0-2 Chelsea 3 - 2 Real Madrid Nusken 2', Reiten 27'(p.), Ramirez 53' --- Redondo 39', Caicedo 84' (att: 3 832) Celtic 0 - 2 Twente van Dooren 44' 85' (att: 2 784)
Group C Bayern Munich ----------- 1m ----- 3p ----- 5-2 Juventus -------------------- 1m ----- 3p ----- 1-0 Valerenga ------------------ 1m ----- 0p ----- 0-1 Arsenal ---------------------- 1m ----- 0p ----- 2-5 Bayern Munich 5 - 2 Arsenal Viggosdottir 43', Lohmann 56', Harder 73' 78' 86' --- Caldentey 30', Codina 65' (att: 2 500) Valerenga 0 - 1 Juventus Cantore 29' (att: 1 923) Group D Hammarby IF ------------ 1m ----- 3p ----- 2-0 Manchester City ------- 1m ----- 3p ----- 2-0 FC Barcelona ------------ 1m ----- 0p ----- 0-2 SKN St. Polten ---------- 1m ----- 0p ----- 0-2 Hammarby 2 - 0 St. Polten Hasund 18', Tandberg 88' (att: 7 562) Manchester City 2 - 0 Barcelona Layzell 36', Shaw 77' (att: 5 508) Top Scorers 3 Pernille Harder (Bayern) 2 Kadidiatou Diani (Lyon) 2 Kayleigh van Dooren (Twente) Assists Leaders 2 Tabitha Chawinga (Lyon) 2 Klara Buhl (Bayern) 2 Katie McCabe (Arsenal)
Halfway through the group stage. 0 draw so far in 24 games. Amazing. All four groups in 9-6-3-0 configuration.
Last season we had 13 draws and 18 wins by 1 goal in group stage. This season so far only 5 wins by 1 goal. We have already five wins by 5 or more goals (last season 5 for whole group stage).
At this rate, if any lesser team manages to finally get even a single draw, it could be worth its weight in gold.
The fight for the top 2 Nations ranking is on: At the start of the season gap between nations and now 1. FRA 2. SPA 5.166 -> 4.667 2. SPA 3. GER 0.667 -> 0.667 3. GER 4. ENG 4.000 -> 0.500 (!) Also 2. SPA 4.ENG 4.667 -> 1.167 England have caught up 3.5 coefficient points over Spain and Germany, and might get second place that guarantees 2 team direct to the League stage in 2026/27.
The big fishes strike back this season! Last season there were a lot of upsets, I speculated it was a bit due to heavy schedule in a world cup year, maybe I was right . This season is more in line with the longer development, of the big clubs getting more dominant, because they suck up all the talent in Europe and has often greater facilities
Yeah, last year was surprisingly competitive. It's rough seeing the return of blowouts this year, but it's kinda expected with the growth that's still lacking in the leagues outside of the big four/six/whatever. To be fair, even though every group is 9-6-3-0 right now, it's not like there haven't been upsets, at least going by pots: ManCity over Barca, Roma over Wolfsburg, and Hammarby over St. Polten. I'd argue that last one isn't really an upset because of the leagues represented, but the other two are certainly less expected, seeing two past champions (and top-three by club coefficient) defeated.
It's always a surprise when Barca loses, mabe not against Lyon, but otherwise. I think Man City is among the elite though, on level with Chelsea and Arsenal, so I'm not too surprised. Roma-Wolfsburg was a little surprise, but it' hard to evaluate Wolfsburg ,since they changed so much players. Roma btw is in their third season in WCL and has played draw against Wolfsburg and Bayern before, but yea, a little surprise think.
Arsenal game vs. Bayern (18th December) moved from Emirates to Meadow Park because of scheduling conflict with men's team Carabao Cup quarterfinal. Bit puzzling change as Meadow Park previously was ruled out as UWCL stadium because it didn't meet UEFA standards. https://arseblog.news/2024/11/arsenal-confirm-uwcl-tie-against-bayern-munich-moved-to-meadow-park/
It's especially puzzling because it's not like London lacks stadiums that meet UEFA standards for the UWCL.
UEFA gave a special dispensation. Still Arsenal sold 7k tickets and Meadow Park holds 4k maximum. All tickets refunded and those 7k fans will fight for the 4k seats next week in a special first come first serve booking window. And yes Arsenal could have asked brentford, west ham, mk dons or even wembley to hire their stadium.
Does Zecira Musovic have a younger sister that is also playing football? I just saw this picture on her social media.
Hammarby 1 - 2 Man City attendance: 20 420 (new record for club woso in Sweden) The home team's fans provided a great atmosphere in this match. (not counting this one moron who threw botle cap or coin at Shaw ) some dodgy officiating as well... but to ref defense it was "high risk" game with a lot of pressure involved, crowd was animated and quickly turn "hostile" at times.
Group Stage - round 4 Almost all is decided already. 7 quarter-finalists: Lyon, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Manchester City, Barcelona* ...with either Roma or Wolfsburg left only to be decided. *(Hammarby will not beat Barca by 10 goals) GROUP A Olympique Lyon -------- 4m ----- 12p ----- 12-1 AS Roma ------------------- 4m ----- 6p ----- 8-8 VfL Wolfsburg ----------- 4m ----- 6p ----- 10-3 Galatasaray --------------- 4m ----- 0p ----- 1-19 VfL Wolfsburg 5 - 0 Galatasaray Popp 3' 15' 88', Minge 31', Lattwein 90'+6 (att: 2 536) Olympique Lyon 4 - 1 AS Roma Diani 77' 79', Le Sommer 89', Renard 90'+2 --- Dragoni 74' (att: 4 060) GROUP B Chelsea FC ---------- 4m ----- 12p ----- 11-4 Real Madrid --------- 4m ----- 9p ----- 16-5 FC Twente ----------- 4m ----- 3p ----- 5-13 Celtic ------------------- 4m ----- 0p ----- 1-11 FC Twente 2 - 3 Real Madrid Ravensbergen 29', Te Brake 90'+6 --- Caicedo 45'+2, Bruun 71', Redondo 90'+4 (att: 8 091) Chelsea 3 - 0 Celtic Bronze 2', Kaptein 25', Perisset 90'+5(p.) (att: 3 931)
GROUP C Bayern Munich ---------- 4m ----- 10p ----- 11-3 Arsenal ------------------- 4m ----- 9p ----- 11-6 Juventus ----------------- 4m ----- 3p ----- 1-7 Valerenga ---------------- 4m ----- 1p ----- 2-9 Valerenga 1 - 1 Bayern Munich Thorsnes 88' --- Damnjanovic 75' (att: 2 314) Arsenal 1 - 0 Juventus Hurtig 89' (att: 9 963) GROUP D Manchester City ------ 4m ----- 12p ----- 9-3 FC Barcelona --------- 4m ----- 9p ----- 20-3 Hammarby IF --------- 4m ----- 3p ----- 3-13 SKN St. Polten -------- 4m ----- 0p ----- 3-16 Hammarby 1 - 2 Manchester City Wangerheim 48' --- Shaw 31' 52' (att: 20 428) St. Polten 1 - 4 Barcelona Madl 59' --- Nazareth 20' 29', Lopez 31', Putellas 57' (att: 8 832) Top Scorers 5 Pernille Harder (Bayern) 4 Kadidiatou Diani (Lyon) 4 Claudia Pina (Barcelona) Assists Leaders 3 Klara Buhl (Munich) 3 Patricia Guijarro (Barcelona)
I'm not condoning the idiot who threw something, but here's a perspective you don't see in the international press: https://www.fotbollskanalen.se/womens-champions-league/bajenspelarna-om-shaws-firande-ackligt/