Gareth Taylor said Manchester City are back “where they belong” after they finally ended their disappointing streak in Europe’s top club competition and reached the Women’s Champions League group stages for the first time, by completing a comprehensive 8-0 aggregate victory over Paris FC.
Taylor’s confident-looking side were not involved in Europe at all last season and had been eliminated by Real Madrid in the qualifying rounds of the two campaigns before that. They will now contest the last-16 stage of the competition for the first time since 2020-21, when the knockout format was still in use, and will harbour realistic ambitions of going deep into the competition on the evidence of their strong showing over the two legs of this second-round tie.
“It’s a big honour for us,” Taylor said. “This is where we want to be. The qualification process is really tough. I’m not the only coach, I’m sure, who has sat, over the past couple of years, with a squad that felt capable of not just being in the Champions League, but actually doing something within it.
“Man City is a big club. We feel like we belong there, because we are a big team and we have huge ambitions, but of course the club recognises how difficult it is to be there because of the qualification process.
“I never felt safe, even at 5-0. A lot of things can go wrong in football. Nothing is a formality.”
Taylor may not have felt safe, but this result certainly appeared secure, with his team 5-0 up from the first leg before Thursday’s comfortable 3-0 victory, in which Khadija Shaw scored twice.
Moments before kick-off, the crowd were confused by the ominous sound of a siren and an announcement instructing everybody to evacuate the Joie Stadium, prompting the fans to head for the exits, only for it quickly to turn out to have been a false alarm; within a minute, spectators were instructed to return to their seats.
If any Manchester City fans had been wary of the danger of a Paris FC comeback, that threat was also very quickly eradicated, as Chloe Kelly capitalised on sloppy defending to pounce at the back post and put the hosts 1-0 up on the night, and 6-0 up on aggregate, inside the first two minutes. Just after the half-hour, Shaw slotted in the second goal of the night from Kelly’s well-timed low cross into her path. For Shaw, who was bizarrely unable to travel to the first leg because Manchester City failed to apply for her visa in time, it was her first goal of the season, and her second would soon follow from the penalty spot in the second half after she was clipped in the box.
Celtic became the first Scottish side to reach the group stages of the Women's Champions League with a 2-0 win over Ukrainian side Vorskla Poltova sealing a 3-0 aggregate win. After a poor first half, Emma Lawton headed in her first Celtic goal from Lucy Ashworth-Clifford's cross in the 52nd minute before Shannon McGregor headed in a second 10 minutes later.
Juventus scored in the second minute to add to their two-goal cushion from the first leg, and although Paris Saint-Germain equalised from the penalty spot early in the second half, Barabara Bonansea headed past Mary Earps to secure progression for the Italian side.
Elsewhere, Roma thumped Switzerland's Servette 7-2 away to complete a 10-3 aggregate win.
City enjoyed control of the tie right from the start of the first leg, which was at odds with Paris FC’s impressive run in Europe last season, when they enjoyed shock victories over Arsenal and Wolfsburg during qualifying and then beat Real Madrid twice in the group stage. They had been seen as potentially difficult opponents for City, who themselves are no strangers to falling short in the qualifying rounds.
If any reminder was needed of the difficulty of qualifying for the group stages, it came in the French capital in one of Thursday’s early evening kick-offs, where Paris Saint-Germain were surprisingly eliminated at the hands of Juventus.
Manchester City, who were semi-finalists in 2017 and 2018, can now look forward to Friday lunchtime’s group-stage draw. Asked how far his side could go in Europe this term, Taylor said: “It’s hard to say. I feel we can go a long way. I would never say: ‘We are going to win it,’ but I think getting out of the group stages is going to be our next objective, and once we get out of the group stages, anything can happen. We just want a crack at it, that’s what we want.”
