Matchday two of this season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League certainly delivered goals — 38 were scored across this week’s eight games.
On Wednesday, Bayern Munich maintained their 100% start to Group C with a 2-0 victory at Juventus, while Arsenal got back to winning ways following the exit of coach Jonas Eidevall by beating Vålerenga 4-1. In Group D, Barcelona bounced back after last week’s loss to Manchester City in a big way with a 9-0 win over Hammarby, but City remain top after they won 3-2 at St. Pölten.
The goals kept flowing on Thursday with Roma‘s 6-1 win at Galatasaray, and they are joint-top of Group A with Lyon after the eight-time champions won 2-0 at Wolfsburg. Chelsea remain leaders in Group B after they beat FC Twente 3-1, while Real Madrid got off the mark with a 4-0 win over Celtic.
We asked our writers Emily Keogh, Sophie Lawson and Sam Marsden to answer some of our burning questions.
What stood out for you on matchday two?
Lawson: Other than the raft of penalties (one in each of Thursday’s four games), there was a general rebalancing of the scales.
Barcelona emphatically got back to winning ways and left Hammarby humbled, after the Swedes had impressed last week by beating St. Pölten. Juventus put in a better performance than when they beat Vålerenga on matchday one but this time took nothing from their game against Bayern Munich. Twente, who had been so assured against Celtic, looked all at sea against Chelsea. Likewise St. Pölten, who had struggled so much at Hammarby, really gave the Manchester City side that beat Barcelona last week a run for their money.
There is a slice of unpredictability about the group stage, with teams already happily trading points.
Marsden: It was a good week for the Spanish sides after both suffered defeats in their opening games. The situation at Barcelona has been slightly curious in recent weeks. They have won league games 10-1, 8-1 and 7-1 but have been criticised for slow starts and going behind in games. The loss to Manchester City put new coach Pere Romeu firmly in the spotlight. Had Barça lost their hunger?
That debate has been parked for now after their best performance of the season, a resounding 9-0 win against Hammarby. It was a display, though, which also suggests Romeu has some work to do in terms of picking his best side. Is it time to finally give Clàudia Pina, who scored twice in the win, a more prominent role? Can Alexia Putellas re-capture her pre-injury form? Who, if anyone, drops out when Salma Paralluelo comes back from injury? These are all questions Romeu will have to figure out as the season progresses.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid are also off the mark in Europe, beating Celtic 4-0 after opening with a defeat at Chelsea. They have often flattered to deceive under coach Albert Toril, but they have quality players. Caroline Weir is back from injury and scoring regularly, while Linda Caicedo continues to develop. They could be a dark horse if things click.
Keogh: Chelsea didn’t look as comfortable against Twente as I thought they would. Fixtures that Chelsea would have breezed through previously seem to cause them issues under new coach Sonia Bompastor. St. Pölten’s handling of Manchester City was also impressive, given how Gareth Taylor’s side defeated Barcelona last week. Roma’s confidence and ability is also a standout this season. Having learned from their past two European campaigns, and following a pretty successful summer, the Italian side are proving impressive so far.
How will Arsenal move on from Eidevall?
Keogh: Eidevall and Arsenal’s split was coming. He had lost the dressing room and he believed the breakdown in his relationship with the fans — who became incredibly vocal following the consecutive defeats to Bayern and Chelsea — had gone beyond repair, leading him to step down.
Caretaker manager Renée Slegers has worked under Eidevall for years, and when she succeeded him at Rosengård she won the Swedish title twice, so no one knows his style better. This team was purpose built for Eidevall’s tactics, so the best option for the team is to have Slegers step in to fine tune the issues.
While talk swirls about possible replacements, with the rumoured front-runners in other jobs (such as Nick Cushing, head coach of MLS team New York City FC), Arsenal could give Slegers several months before a replacement is brought in, perhaps until then end of the group stage in December. Introducing a new manager would add more upheaval, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Arsenal look to keep the waters calm for the time being.
Marsden: Eidevall didn’t do a bad job at Arsenal but it’s clear he was not getting the best out of a talented squad by the end. A change of direction feels right, but how Arsenal progress will depend on who they appoint as the next coach. They have good players — the summer signing of Mariona Caldentey from Barcelona on a free transfer was a brilliant piece of business — and they should be competing for trophies domestically and in Europe.
The sooner they get a new coach the better because their next two games in the Champions League are huge: Juventus back-to-back. Those fixtures will likely decide who reaches the knockout rounds along with group leaders Bayern Munich, which is where the Gunners should be.
Lawson: The biggest question is if the powers that be decide to go back to the drawing board and look for a new manager like the one Eidevall replaced, Joe Montemurro, or if they look for another in the same mould to utilise the squad they have built for the Swede.
Although it’s only brief, the impending international break couldn’t have come at a better time for the Gunners, to allow for some breathing space while they step up their search for a new manager, but to also give in Slegers much-needed time to plan out Arsenal’s next games. We often talk about the new manager bounce, but right now it looks more like the players are more comfortable and focused. A steady hand from Slegers will be key with Juventus on the horizon.
Based on what we’ve seen so far, which German giant will go further? Bayern or Wolfsburg?
Lawson: Bayern. Wolfsburg were very unlucky not to take anything from their meeting with Roma last week but it was the same old story when Lyon came calling on Thursday, with the once great team bereft of ideas of how to stop the French champions. Although I expect Wolfsburg to best Galatasaray home and away, as well as picking up a win against Roma in their next meeting, it’s just hard to get excited about a team that are a shadow of what they were only just a few years ago.
At the same time, Bayern are ticking through and getting the job done without really wowing, but with six points in the bag already, it’s hard to see the Bavarians caring as long as they’re winning.
Keogh: The duo have had vastly different results so far in the competition, with Bayern winning both ties and Wolfsburg failing to win one. The contrast is pretty stark so it is hard to argue against Bayern. However, they did suffer a loss to the former champions in the league recently, so there is always space for Bayern to drop off. I do think Group A is as difficult to call as Group C, given Roma’s impressive start and how Lyon, are well, Lyon.
Both German teams are in tough groups and while you’d be more confident of Bayern making it through, Wolfsburg could, just as easily, make it if they’re able to overturn their slow start and use experience to foil Roma and Lyon in their future matches.
Marsden: With six points to zero, the obvious answer is Bayern, but let’s put a positive spin on this for Wolfsburg, who actually beat Bayern 2-0 last week in the league. Their next two games are against Galatasaray and, if everything goes to the form book, they could be level on points with Roma with two games to go — the Italians have back-to-back games against Lyon now. After that, Wolfsburg host Roma.
Admittedly, Lyon away is a tough final game, but the French side will likely have already wrapped up top spot by that point. So, it looks bleak now, but Tommy Stroot’s side can still make the last eight … where I am going to say both German giants will crash out!
Biggest disappointment so far?
Lawson: It’s all about perception and where we set the bar for different teams: for Celtic and Galatasaray, it was hard to see anything but a procession of losses for the debutants.
While Hammarby, Vålerenga, Twente and St. Pölten have impressed in spells, again the bar was slung low, and you could argue similar for Real Madrid. So it comes to which of the so-called big teams have been left wanting.
It has to be Juventus and Arsenal. Both can be unpredictable. Yes the Gunners bounced back with their win over VIF, but they were far from exceptional and most of the goals in the game came from sloppy defending. Meanwhile, Juventus are hard to gauge: winning with a sub-par performance and taking nothing from a much more even one. But the Bianconere have been here before, drawn into a banana peel of a group, and they’ll know how easily they can be punished for not taking their chances.
Keogh: I was really optimistic about Juventus early on, given how well they played during qualifiers and how stacked their team has become following their impressive summer. But having struggling against Bayern and only picking up a 1-0 win over Vålerenga, I’m underwhelmed by the Italian side.
The disparity between the top sides in Europe and the far less experienced is vast. The debutants and those drawn from Pot 4 have little hope of picking up big results against former champions and teams who have far better resources and infrastructure. The new format for next season, which sees 18 clubs in one league table, could potentially make the competition a bit more even but it is really had to say the likes of Hammarby or Celtic were disappointing given how hard it is to face teams like Barcelona and Chelsea, who are miles ahead in their development.
Other than that, Wolfsburg’s lack of points and Real Madrid’s stagnated form is disappointing but with four games left, I wouldn’t be surprised if both teams rebound better for the latter part of the group stage.
Marsden: Everything appears to be going as you would expect in the four groups, in terms of the top two. Manchester City’s win over a below-par Barcelona was the biggest surprise, but given how the Catalan side responded this week, it’s Arsenal, Juventus and Wolfsburg who have disappointed most.
Like Barça, Arsenal responded well to their defeat to Bayern. It feels like Juve haven’t really got going and, while they have had two tricky games, zero points from two games is unacceptable for a team with Wolfsburg’s standing in the game.
