Between Debuts, Flares and Four Penalties: the UWCL is Back in Full Swing

The UEFA Women’s Champions league phase is back and the drama has already begun on the first day of the season.

The first two matches promised plenty of entertainment, with German champions Bayern München welcoming English champions Manchester City and UWCL debutants Inter Milano facing last year's Europa Cup winners BK Häcken.

In the later kick-offs, 2024/25 UWCL winners Arsenal WFC welcomed the second-time participants HB Køge from Denmark. Last year's quarter-finalists Real Madrid FC faced the competition's two-time runners-up Paris Saint-Germain FC. The last match of the day saw six-time Italian champions Juventus Turin play seven-time Portuguese champions Sport Lisboa e Benfica.

Flares, a controversial goal and a saved penalty - Bayern München vs Manchester City

At 6:45pm on Tuesday, Bayern München kicked off their first ever game at the Sportpark Unterhaching, having bought the stadium in January and renovated it over the past few months. Sportgemeinschaft Unterhaching, who built the stadium several years ago, still play their games there but Bayern München's women's team will also play all their Champions League home games in Unterhaching. With the Bayern Campus having a capacity of only about 2.500 and the Allianz Arena having a capacity of almost 70.000, the capacity of 15.000 at the Sportpark Unterhaching is a great middle ground. In the future, Bayern could play all of their home games at the Sportpark Unterhaching.

Bayern got off to a strong start, so it was no surprise when they took the lead in the 11th minute. Giulia Gwinn was left unmarked, collecting Linda Dallmann's through ball and shooting it right past Manchester City's keeper Ayaka Yamashita. "I've just come back from injury, I'm just enjoying being back on the pitch. As a defense player, you usually don't get the pleasure of scoring goals too often, especially goals from within the game, [therefore it was] really, really great. I was a little surprised to be left so alone but everything turned out well and I'm obviously really happy*," said the 27-year-old captain and player of the match in an interview after the game.

16 minutes later, an unsuccessful clearance attempt by Kerstin Casparij resulted in an own goal by the Dutch defender, putting Bayern 2-0 ahead.

Just before half-time, in the 45th minute, Beth Mead closed the gap with her first competitive goal for Manchester City. The scene, however, became very controversial and not because of the goal itself. Just a couple of seconds earlier, as Kerstin Casparij made her way down the right-hand side with the ball, blue and red flares had been thrown onto the pitch. Apparently, Unterhaching's ultras weren't too pleased about Bayern München playing in "their" stadium and decided to show their displeasure by interrupting the game. Except the referee did, in fact, not stop the game, she allowed play to continue and amid the chaos in the penalty area, Khadija Shaw's shot was deflected right into Beth Mead's path, who slid the ball into the goal. 

Bianca Rech, Bayern München's director of women's football, said in an interview: "For me, the game has to be stopped. The Pyro [flares] already lies on the pitch for several seconds, players notice that and maybe have already switched off in the moment because the game has to be stopped. The situation continues and so, somehow, really strange you have to say and, in my opinion, the refereeing here is just not good.*"

The second half started out a little more even until, in the 60th minute, Aobe Fujino was fouled in the penalty area by Bayern's keeper Ena Mahmutovic and City were awarded a penalty. Bunny Shaw took the penalty but München's number one made amends by stopping the shot with a superb save. "Ena is known to be very powerful from the line. I told her beforehand, 'Ena, it doesn't matter, you've got this anyway,' and I think she just rewarded herself for her good game*," Giulia Gwinn praised her teammate afterwards.

In the 86th minute, after chances on both sides, German international Carlotta Wamser's shot from the centre of the box whipped right past Mahmutovic into the bottom left corner. Wamser's first goal for Manchester City therefore became a really important one, securing City the 2-2 draw and a point in their first UWCL match of the season. "Yeah, it's cool. I'm pleased", Wamser said after the game. "Bayern did really well, they made it really difficult for us. We're happy now that we managed to take home a point."

Her national teammate and Bayern midfielder Linda Dallmann was quite frustrated by the result. “We lost intensity a bit in the second half and made too many mistakes and too easy mistakes, and at this level it goes against you, so we have to learn from it. We had the chances, especially at the end, we had two big chances. At this level, you have to score. I think we deserved it at the end. But it’s our fault, we have to work on that.”

"We're in September now, it's still the beginning and I think it's better to make mistakes like that now rather than in March or April*", Bayern forward Jovana Damjanović said. "I think we played a really good game, it's unfortunate that we didn't win but I think it's still a learning process. It's the first English week [this is a German term for a week with matches played on both weekends and another match during the week] and yeah, we need to analyse it and do better.*"

Bayern will travel to Lisbon next week to play Benfica while Manchester City will face Real Madrid at home.

A UWCL league phase debut, an early goal and a 24-year age difference - Inter Milano vs BK Häcken

After missing out on qualification last year, Inter Milano made it to the league phase for the first time in their history. And that path was a dramatic one. Milano fell short 0-2 to Wolfsburg in the qualifying game played in Wolfsburg, with Inter also facing a red card in the 49th minute. However, in their home game, the Italians were able to score two goals, sending the match into extra time. Wolfsburg scored what they thought would be the winning goal in the 111th minute but Milano were able to equalise again in the 120+1st minute. In the following penalty shootout, Inter goalkeeper Cecilía Rúnarsdóttír saved Mara Alber's shot, securing Inter Milano's place in the UWCL league phase for the first time.

BK Häcken, formerly known as Kopparbergs/Göteborg FC, on the other hand, have played in the Champions League several times before, making it as far as the quarter-finals in 2011/12, 2012/13 and 2023/24. Last season, they lost the second qualifying round to Atlético Madrid but this loss also qualified them for the newly established UEFA Women's Europa Cup (UWEC or UWEL). Following victories over Inter Milano in the round of 16,  Breiðablik in the quarter-finals and Eintracht Frankfurt in the semi-finals, they played the their Swedish rivals Hammarby IF in the final. They won the two matches 4-2 on aggregate and were crowned the first UWEC champions. 

Tuesday therefore saw a rematch of last year's UWEC round of 16. Back then, Häcken won the first game 1-0, with the second ending in a 0-0 draw. 

This game also got off to a quick start, with Haley Bugeja scoring in the fifth minute, slotting home a powerful shot that deflected off a Häcken defender's leg and left Jennifer Falk with no chance of saving it. This goal would be the only one scored in the match, continuing the trend of their games having few goals. 

There were several chances for both sides during the game, the biggest of which was Häcken's Alva Selerud's shot flying across the goal from a short distance. Other shots were blocked or saved by Milano's Cecilía Rúnarsdóttir and Häcken's Jennifer Falk. Häcken had an intense spell with lots of chances in the later part of the first half whereas Inter had plenty of chances, especially in the final 30 minutes of the game. Lina Magull's header and shot on goal were saved by Falk in an impressive double-save.

However, a couple of minutes later, in the 87th minute, Inter's goalkeeper sent a long ball over the pitch, finding Brittany Raphino up front. Jennifer Falk came out of the penalty area, trying to stop Inter's attack and while Raphino complained, the referee decided to let play continue. But VAR reviewed the scene and showed the referee that Falk had indeed only kicked the striker's leg and not the ball. The only logical consequence was that Jennifer Falk was shown a red card in the 89th minute. The Swedes still had a substitution left so they brought on their backup keeper Hanna Karlsson.

Hanna Karlsson made her debut aged just 16 years and 323 days, becoming one of the youngest goalkeepers ever to play in the Champions League. The only goalkeeper younger than her to play in the UWCL in recent years is Adriana Pietrasik David, who played for Racing FC Union Lëtzebuerg in last year's qualifiers at just 16 years and 63 days.

At the other end of the age spectrum, Häcken's centre back Aivi Luik became the competition's oldest players to ever feature in the group stage/league phase at the age of 41 years and 188 days. "I don't think about my record", the Australian said after the game. "I still feel young. The secret is coffee and chocolate. It wasn’t the result we wanted, we could have equalized but we didn’t and now we look forward to the next matches.”

Inter's captain Irene Santi praised her team after their win. “It was so special for me to captain Inter on such a historic night. It was incredible, and we played so well as a team.”

“It was special for us, and special to see how maturely we played", Inter coach David Sassarini said after the game. "We scored early and then we took a step back, but I’m very happy about our second half. I am happy about the win. We showed we can play in this competition, and the ambition now is to improve on certain things and keep it up.”

Häcken coach Elena Sadiku discussed aeas where her team could improve. "We should have done better in possession, but against such an experienced team it was difficult. We had time after conceding early, but needed to do better in the final third. I am proud and we showed what we can do against Inter so we can do it against Juventus in the next game."

Inter Milano will face Austria Wien in Vienna next, while BK Häcken welcome Juventus Turin to Göteborg next week.

An injury time penalty saves the former UWCL winners - Arsenal WFC vs HB Køge

Once again, the Arsenal fans' nerves were tested in this match. Despite the English team having better statistics, HB Køge managed to defend pretty much everything that was thrown at them.

Arsenal have won the UWCL twice, in 2006/07 and again in 2024/25, whereas Køge have only made it to the Champions League group stage once in 2021/22, where they lost all of their games against TSG Hoffenheim, FC Barcelona - and Arsenal. Back then, they lost 0-3 and 1-5 against the Gunners. 

This time, however, the score was nowhere near as one-sided. In the 13th minute, Chloe Kelly found the back of the net with a beautiful finish after some excellent work from Kyra Cooney-Cross and it would have been the perfect start to Arsenal's Champions League campaign. If only the VAR hadn't reviewed the goal and found that Stina Blackstenius, despite not being involved in the goal, was offside and in the view of the opposing goalkeeper. Therefore, the goal was disallowed and the score remained at 0-0.

Despite having 75% ball possession and taking 19 shots to Koge's 4, Arsenal couldn't seem to find the back of the net again. Attempts from Kyra Cooney-Cross, Alessia Russo, Taylor Hinds and others all ended up being off target or blocked by Køge's goalkeeper Alberte Vingum and her defence. The Danes' best chance came in the 77th minute, when striker Emelía Óskarsdóttir was stopped only by a perfectly timed tackle from Steph Catley.

Then, in the 90+2nd minute, Yukina Sakabe fouled Selina Cerci in the penalty area which led to Arsenal being awarded a penalty. Mariona Caldentey took the shot from the spot and despite Vingum getting a hand to it, she could not stop Caldentey from scoring the 1-0 winner for Arsenal in the 90+3rd minute. 

Just a few minutes later, the game ended and the English club won. Despite their loss, Køge showed a lot of grit on their return to the competition. "I am really pleased with the team's performance", HB Køge coach Kristian Mørch said after the game. "It is hard when you concede so late in the game. It could have happened before, we have to be honest about that, but we followed the plan and created the game we thought we could. I am proud of the girls."

After the late victory, Arsenal head coach Renée Slegers said: "We are building mentality, there is resilience in the squad, we do things together and today we got the three points but we want our football to be better, to click better.

"Credit to HB Køge, they did really well and they made it really hard for us. We are just happy to get those three points", midfielder and player of the match Kyra Cooney-Cross praised after the match. "For the whole 90 minutes, we worked so hard. We never give up. We are a hard-working team and we always want to score goals, create chances but at the moment it is quite difficult. We got the three points and that is all that matters."

"Football is football and sometimes it is heartbreaking like that", Kyra Carusa, HB Køge forward, said. "Football is football and sometimes it is heartbreaking like that. I think about the last time we were here and it was a very different game. A different feeling, a very different result. To see us now and the performance we put in with the team we have is massive."

She continued: "With the result aside, it is a testament to how much this team has put into tonight and what is to come from it. We are here. We are excited to show the world, on this stage, that we are here to make a difference and do something big."

"We cannot wait to welcome Champions League football back to Køge next week. It will be an amazing night", HB Køge's coach announced. The Danes will welcome Swiss club Servette FCCF next week while Arsenal will travel to France to play Paris FC. 

An early goal and a late penalty - Real Madrid vs Paris Saint-Germain

Real Madrid are the only team to have made it through qualifiying and reached the group stage/league phase in all six editions since the current format was introduced in 2021/22. In all those years though, the Spaniards have only beaten PSG once, that victory came in last season's league phase. 

Madrid started off extremely strong, just 96 seconds into the game Felicia Schröder scored from a beautiful cross by Arianna Caruso who therefore provided an assist in her 50th UWCL match. Felicia Schröder has only played in five Champions league games but already scored her fourth goal after three goals in this and last year's qualifiers combined.

The goals seemed to wake up PSG, who went on to dominate the first half with 8 to 2 total shots. They particularly caused trouble on the wings and tested Madrid's goalkeeper Merle Frohms several times, with Frohms making some crucial saves. The Spaniards remained alert though, trying to score again with a counterattack. Paris's Jennifer Echegini brought a lot of pace to the game whenever she had the ball but she was closely marked by Real Madrid's Elisa Senß.

The start of the second half also belonged more to PSG but throughout the game, Madrid took over and fired and more shots towards the French goal. Several chances, mostly from Felicia Schröder and Linda Caicedo, either missed the goal narrowly or were saved by PSG's keeper Katarzyna Kiedrzynek. 

In the 71st minute, Real Madrid's Maëlle Lakrar pulled down Léa Morissaint in the penalty area, earning a penalty for the French team. PSG captain Sakina Karchaoui took it upon herself to take the penalty and sent the ball into the back of the net with great precision, equalising the game to 1-1.

Madrid were not happy with the goal, pushing even harder for another goal to put them ahead again. They got a few more shots but the game still ended in a 1-1 draw. 

"We scored an early goal, controlled the tempo of the game and created plenty of chances, so I think we should have won this match", Felicia Schröder, player of the match and Real Madrid's goalscorer, said after the game. "It’s clear that when they press us high up the pitch, we have space behind their defence and can make quick transitions. We had plenty of those today".

Real Madrid coach Pau Quesada confirmed: "We got off to a great start with the goal. We wanted to attack them down that [right] flank, but it’s true that afterwards they started pressing higher up the pitch, winning a few duels, and that’s when we felt more comfortable attacking behind the defence. We lacked a bit of patience in the first half but adjusted in the second. We had more chances, but on one of their attacks they got in behind, won a challenge and forced a penalty. It’s a point that leaves us with mixed feelings

"We can be happy with a point after a match like that", PSG forward Radsheedat Ajibade said. "We need to be better at the start of the match. We’re capable of preventing that early goal. This is the Champions League. We need to improve, and we can do it. But we’ve shown that if we concede a goal, we can fight back to turn the match around."

Both teams showed a great game and hold a lot of potential for this year's league phase. Next week, PSG will welcome Belgian team OH Leuven while Real Madrid will travel to England to face Manchester City. 

A penalty, a free-kick goal and lots of saves - Juventus Turin vs Sport Lisboa Benfica

While Benfica have already started into the Portuguese league, winning both of their opening games, the Italian league will only restart this upcoming weekend. Juventus have played a couple of games in the Serie A Cup though, winning the final on penalties after a penalty in the 90+th minute took them to extra-time against AS Roma in the first place. 

Last year saw the exact same opening fixture, with Benfica travelling to Juventus for their first game of the UWCL league phase. In 2025, Benfica took the lead but Juventus managed to come from behind and win the game 2-1.

Benfica seemed keen to improve on that for this year's rematch, starting with a very high press. Juventus quickly took charge though, holding an extremely high defensive line so that the first 30 minutes were mainly played in the Portuguese's half. Juventus had several chances during that period, Alba Redondo came close to scoring twice, hitting the woodwork or narrowly missing the target. 

Benfica's first real chances came around the 30th minute and in the 36th minute, Juventus player Martina Rosucci fouled Anna Csiki in the penalty area, resulting in a penalty for Benfica. Marit Bratberg Lund converted the penalty with a powerful shot into the top right corner, leaving no chance for goalkeeper Danielle de Jong and putting Lisbon up 1-0. 

After a few more chances from each side, the teams went into halftime without any more goals being scored.

They continued like this after the break, with chances for both sides, albeit slightly more for Juventus. Benfica's goalkeeper Lena Pauels was one of the reasons why Juventus didn't score, with the German making a few saves in the early minutes of the second half. In the 61st minute, goalscorer Bratberg Lund delivered a stunning free kick that curved just over Juventus' wall and into the top right corner of de Jong's goal, the goalkeeper was unable to reach the perfectly placed ball in time. Lund's brace put Benfica up by 2 goals.

Juventus pushed for a goal even harder and in the 86th minute, Emma Stølen Godø laid a beautiful ball right into the path of Alba Redondo in the penalty area, who took one touch before slotting a powerful strike right past Lena Pauels.

With just a couple of minutes left, both sides kept pressing but no more goals were scored and Juventus fell short to Benfica 1-2, not being able to turn the game around like they did last season.

"It was a game where I don’t think the result reflects what we actually saw on the pitch", Juventus forward Alba Redondo said after the game. "We’re disappointed because nobody likes to lose, but the good thing about football is that it always gives you another opportunity."

Martina Rosucci, Juventus' captain, also gave her opinion on the game: "I think we dominated the game completely and created a lot of chances. That’s football – you have to score. They had a penalty and a free-kick and punished us. In the Champions League, you can’t make mistakes because teams will always punish you. We played a good game and stayed true to our identity, but we have to be stronger and show more desire to score. On nights like this, when you create four or five chances, you have to score more than one goal."

"We knew it was going to be a tough game, and it was", player of the match and Brnfica defender Marit Bratberg Lund said after the game. "Juventus had a lot of possession, but we defended very well and took the chances we had. At this stage, you have to be effective, and we did that. It paid off. I’ve practised that a lot [the free-kicks], so to be able to do it in this game was amazing. It’s a great feeling to know that all the work you put in during training pays off."

Chandra Davidson, Benfica forward, also said: "We’re very happy with the result. It was great to get the win, especially away against such a difficult team. We knew we would have to be strong defensively and clinical when our chances came, and I thought we finished the game really well."

Juventus Turin will travel to Göteborg next week to play BK Häcken while Benfica will face Bayern München at home in Lisbon.

[*translated as close to the original quotes as possible]