Arsenal vs. Metropolis an amazing advert for WSL, Lyon win massive: Girls's soccer weekly

After an extended summer time off, top-flight ladies’s soccer returned to England and France this previous weekend and there was loads to speak about, from Arsenal’s participating 2-2 draw towards Manchester City within the Women’s Super League (WSL), to Barcelona‘s less-than-comfortable win over Sevilla in Spain‘s Liga F. There have been debuts galore; some spectacular, like Kiko Seike‘s hat trick in Brighton’s drubbing of Everton; some not, like Crystal Palace’s catastrophe of their first-ever WSL sport towards Tottenham.

In France, Lyon‘s defence was left questioned after an all-too thrilling 6-2 win over Fleury, whereas Paris Saint-Germain recovered from a midweek Champions League loss to flex their muscle mass over Montpellier. Serie A’s third matchweek lastly introduced a win for champions Roma once they confronted new-look Como, Juventus left it late towards Lazio, and the Milan derby noticed the spoils shared between Inter and AC.

Right here, our specialists react to the largest moments in European ladies’s soccer from this weekend.

Arsenal vs. Man Metropolis an amazing advert for WSL

Manchester Metropolis’s extremely anticipated WSL opener towards Arsenal was the right showcase for the league (which you’ll stream stay on ESPN+ within the U.S. this season) because the 2024-25 season kicked off. Two groups who will probably be battling for the title on the finish of the season drew followers in giant numbers — a complete attendance of 40,818 on the Emirates — whereas Vivianne Miedema’s return to face her former membership for the primary time added additional drama to an already tense encounter.

The sport lived as much as the hype, ending 2-2, with each groups displaying why the WSL is taken into account one of the crucial aggressive leagues on the planet. Arsenal took 16 photographs, whereas Metropolis responded with 15, and it was end-to-end leisure at occasions, with the Gunners lacking three clear-cut probabilities when by on objective.

Arsenal took the lead by Frida Maanum’s early effort and will have gone 2-0 up as Stina Blackstenius missed after rounding the goalkeeper, however Miedema cancelled that out with a deflected shot that went in simply earlier than half-time. Then, following Jess Park’s gorgeous objective for Metropolis, Beth Mead equalised for Arsenal to share the factors. However followers have been stored on their toes till the ultimate whistle as Laia Codina wanted to make a last-ditch sort out to cease Bunny Shaw from grabbing a late winner.

With intense, title-defining video games like this anticipated all through the season, followers can anticipate eight months of thrilling soccer within the WSL. Whereas the draw was a good outcome, the high-stakes conflict set the tone for an thrilling marketing campaign and served as a implausible advert for the league. — Emily Keogh

Chelsea begin new period with a win, however want time

All eyes have been on Sonia Bompastor as she took cost of Chelsea for her first WSL sport towards Aston Villa on Friday evening.

There was a way of expectation that Bompastor, together with her spectacular managerial pedigree at Lyon, would easily step into Emma Hayes’ footwear and proceed Chelsea’s dominant reign with out lacking a beat. Certainly, many have predicted that she would seamlessly decide up from the place Hayes left off, given her expertise in successful home titles in France and the Champions League each as a participant and supervisor.

Nonetheless, the truth has proved extra complicated. Regardless of securing a 1-0 win, the slender scoreline and unsteady second-half efficiency indicated that they’re a group in transition. Whereas Bompastor’s experience is unquestionable, it’s evident that Chelsea want time to completely modify to her management.

Transitioning from one supervisor to a different can current challenges, and it might take some time for Chelsea to recapture the constant dominance they displayed final season. Nonetheless, with a supervisor of Bompastor’s calibre on the helm, followers can stay optimistic in regards to the future, even when the highway to reclaiming their peak kind is just not as easy as initially anticipated. — EK

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Kaneryd’s gorgeous strike proves sufficient for Chelsea

Johanna Kaneryd’s wonderful first half objective earns Chelsea a 1-0 win over Aston Villa within the WSL.

Horan scores bicycle kick for Lyon in massive win

After his first Premiére Ligue (the brand new title for Division 1 Féminine) outing with France’s perennial league winners, a 6-2 win, Lyon’s new boss Joe Montemurro mentioned: “The beginning of the sport was a bit unusual, however in the long run we did what we needed to do to indicate the group we’re. I preferred the mentality of the group.”

Certainly, it was an inauspicious begin for the primary sport of the season underneath the Michele Kang period, with the guests going behind within the first minute due to some uncharacteristically slack defending. However Lyon rapidly settled in to say their most snug away win on the Stade Robert Bobin ever as each Melchie Dumornay and Lindsey Horan notched a brace every, together with a bicycle kick from the USWNT worldwide.

True to kind for a Montemurro group, the soccer was expansive and enjoyable, with the Australian coach leaning into the sheer breadth of expertise within the squad and taking a swift flip away from the pragmatic soccer of earlier supervisor Bompastor. However, as he famous afterwards: “Our fashion of play rewards us but additionally presents a component of threat and we have now to seek out that steadiness.”

It’s uncommon to see Lyon surrender two targets in a league sport, even when Ewelina Kamczyk’s second was a strike worthy of reward. However it’s early days. Simply as Lyon are attempting to forge a brand new path underneath Kang, taking a wealthy historical past of success and mixing it with the businesswoman’s grand plan for membership soccer, ladies’s soccer in France is attempting to take an overdue step ahead underneath the newly based Ligue féminine de soccer professionnel (LFFP) underneath former Lyon chief Jean-Michel Aulas. There may be nonetheless numerous work to do however, as ever, Lyon maintain successful. — Sophie Lawson

Fast hits

NINE – Kiko Seike‘s WSL debut to recollect. An everyday of Futoshi Ikeda’s Japan facet, 28 year-old Seike is a great distance from a teen breaking onto the scene for the primary time, however for WSL followers who hardly ever enterprise outdoors the UK, the attacker will likely be a reputation to recollect after her excellent debut hat trick towards Everton. With two stunners bookmarking a deft header, Seike embodied the new-look Seagulls, who’re leaning right into a enjoyable verve underneath younger Australian supervisor Dario Vidošić. Nonetheless, it is arduous to get away from how simply manipulated Everton have been within the 4-0 rout. The grit from final season was nowhere to be seen and a foul damage to Aurora Galli made it an excellent worse day on the south coast.

EIGHT – Purple Devils’ assault in circulate. Regardless of some hopeful signings forward of final season, Manchester United‘s assault struggled for fluency after the lack of each Alessia Russo and Ona Batlle, so it ought to be significantly pleasing to boss Marc Skinner to see his facet wanting so clean initially of this 12 months with a 3-0 win over West Ham. Solely managing one WSL objective in her first season with the membership, Brazil worldwide Geyse obtained the season up and operating for the hosts earlier than the dependable Leah Galton added a second, earlier than Grace Clinton notched her first for the membership. For all of the signings United have made, all eyes would have been on the England worldwide following her breakout season on mortgage to Spurs final 12 months. And, as anticipated, the 21-year-old seemed completely at dwelling in midfield.

SEVEN – Barcelona left to sweat in Seville. If there’s one factor Barcelona do not do in Liga F, it is lose — or a minimum of it is a uncommon prevalence. However even rarer is drawing a clean in entrance of objective and, as time wore on on the Estadio Jesús Navas on Saturday evening, it seemed just like the European champions have been about to go their first league match with out a objective since January 2020 (away to Atletico Madrid). Till reigning Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati stepped up and delivered. Credit score to Sevilla as for 68 minutes, Barcelona’s wealth of pure objective scorers seemed bereft.

SIX – Viens very important for Roma. Final season we noticed Roma crash into just a few hurdles earlier than recovering to dash down the house straight, however this 12 months the Serie A champions have had a false begin after dropping 4 factors of their first two video games (towards lately promoted Lazio and lowly Sassuolo.) A win over Servette in Champions League qualifying in midweek lastly put a spring into the Giallorosse step and, identical to towards Servette, Evelyne Viens scored the all-important targets within the 3-1 win over Como. For coach Alessandro Spugna, there are nearly too many choices in assault; the group recruited closely over the summer time, however the good method seems to be alluding him. One factor appears clear already: Viens must be within the combine.

FIVE – Kögel conserving Leverkusen on track. Are Leverkusen adequate? The reply final season was a transparent “no,” because the group have been far too inconsistent to have a robust run at third place and completed sixth. However this 12 months, underneath new boss Roberto Pätzold, the group are wanting nice and are one of many 4 groups in Germany but to undergo a league loss (with Bayern Munich taking part in on Monday evening). Just a little unexpectedly in her fifth season with the membership, it is Kristin Kögel who has been the star, scoring in all three her league begins this season together with the opener within the 2-0 win towards Essen on the weekend.

FOUR – Palace given tough experience by Spurs. The expansion from Tottenham underneath Robert Vilahamn has been palpable, however even with a supervisor who values attacking soccer and has a wholesome squad, 26 photographs (with 17 heading in the right direction) continues to be an eye-popping quantity. A 4-0 win over WSL debutantes Crystal Palace noticed Spurs impress, however they are going to be left to rue the glut of targets left on the market and a extra scientific group — one not on the primary matchday of the season — may have been nearing double-digits. Spurs have been good, however for Palace the alarm bells ought to be ringing loudly. Their midfield and defence was flimsy and simply bested, which is a sizeable pink flag heading into their assembly with Chelsea on Friday.

THREE – PSG’s wobble: A bruising 3-1 loss to Juventus within the midweek UWCL was a great distance from optimum preparation for his or her first league sport of the season however PSG recovered effectively and predictably dictated the 3-1 win towards Montpellier. The large concern for Fabrice Abriel is: what on earth is occurring on the again? The return of Paulina Dudek from a prolonged damage layoff, in addition to the arrival of Griedge Mbock from Lyon, has left PSG’s new coach with a extra depth than he is aware of what to do with. And his unfixed and changeable backline has not been helped by the summer time arrival of goalkeeper Mary Earps who, throughout the 2 video games thus far, has seemed like a fish on out of water. With a must-win sport at dwelling to Juventus on Thursday, Abriel wants to start out answering some questions: one among which is whether or not or not he turns to Katarzyna Kiedrzynek in objective.

TWO – Der not-so Klassiker: Lengthy earlier than Wolfsburg and Bayern began successful every part in Germany, it was all about Turbine Potsdam and FFC [now Eintracht] Frankfurt who boast six Champions League titles between them. However there wasn’t fairly the identical sense of expectation coming into the Frauen-Bundesliga’s outdated Klassiker, as Potsdam are solely simply again within the league after incomes promotion final season and Eintracht are aiming for an additional top-three end. A 6-0 win for Eintracht made it clear which group is on high now as captain Laura Freigang bagged a hat trick regardless of a missed penalty, whereas Potsdam’s unlucky procession of errors and sub-par soccer will probably see the once-great group yo-yo forwards and backwards between the highest tiers.

ONE – There’s solely two Milanese derbies: Lengthy earlier than the solar had set in Lombardy and Matteo Gabbia had snatched a late 2-1 win for Milan’s males over Inter at San Siro, Emelyne Laurent fired in a late objective for Milan to grab some extent towards their rivals on the considerably much less glamourous Enviornment Civica Gianni Brera within the ladies’s Derby della Madonnina. The late objective to seal a 1-1 draw was a large reduction for Milan who, on the third matchday of the Serie A season, now have their first level. However Inter, who managed the sport and took 22 photographs, will nonetheless be licking their wounds.