With half of their matches played, Manchester City remain in control of Group D of the UEFA Women’s Champions League after recording a 2-0 win over Hammarby at Joie Stadium on Tuesday evening.
Gareth Taylor’s side were left frustrated by a stubborn Bajen defence throughout the first half but broke the deadlock soon after the interval through Laura Blindkilde Brown, with Aoba Fujino’s late header removing any doubt about the result.
The two sides will clash again next Thursday at Stockholm’s Tele2 Arena, with Hammarby – who sit third in Group D – reporting via their official club website that more than 15,000 tickets have already been sold.
What did Gareth Taylor say?
Manchester City’s last UEFA Women’s Champions League outing at Joie Stadium saw the Cityzens make light work of the reigning European champions, with goals from Naomi Layzell and Khadija Shaw leaving the visitors stunned. Gareth Taylor’s side prevailed by the same scoreline on Tuesday, eventually penetrating a resilient Hammarby defence that held firm for the entirety of the first half despite looking susceptible to a loose pass every now and then.
The hosts recorded a staggering 70% of the possession at the interval, and reflecting on why his side weren’t able to turn that dominance into a tangible lead, Taylor said: “We were just a bit off in our final action, decent crosses, a little bit reactive and a little bit late. We just needed to speed up on being in the end of that.”
“We had one good opportunity with Aoba [Fujino], one that Bunny [Shaw] nearly got on the end of and we just needed to speed it up a bit,” he continued, adding that after “we had that chat at half time, we scored within 30 seconds.”
That opener came courtesy of Laura Blindkilde Brown, and the Manchester City boss was keen to pile on the praise for the young midfielder as he revealed that the 21-year-old “has had to semi-bide her time a bit coming into a [strong midfield] group with Jill [Roord] and Viv [Miedema].”
Embed from Getty ImagesHad Lauren Hemp been fit to play on Tuesday, Manchester City could perhaps have secured a more resounding scoreline in front of the home faithful. The forward’s fitness has been called into question though, with Taylor telling reporters in his post-match press conference that “we’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further.”
“It’s something that potentially happened in the [Crystal] Palace game. She was able to play in the Spurs game but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more… we’ll just have to take our moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
There was cause for concern for the home fans in the first half when Khadija Shaw required treatment after tangling with Anna Tamminen inside the box. The Jamaican forward was able to continue, only making way for Gracie Prior in the dying stages of the match, and any doubts about her injury status were quelled as Taylor confirmed “she’s okay”.
“She’s been great for us and gets up and gets back onto the pitch and the very next action after she came off [for treatment] in the first half is incredible, with the opportunity to close the keeper down she does it really well,” he added.
Manchester City travel to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this weekend before they head to Stockholm for a second clash with Hammarby at the Tele2 Arena. Bajen, by contrast, are not in domestic action this weekend and can already turn their full focus to springing an upset against the Cityzens on Thursday.