Barcelona 3-0 Manchester City: City on brink of Champions League exit

Manchester City are on the brink of exiting the Women’s Champions League at the quarter-final stage after a miserable first-leg loss to Barcelona.

City’s Chloe Kelly missed a golden opportunity to halve the deficit seeing her 55th-minute penalty saved.

Jenni Hermoso tapped in a third late on after Alexia Putellas struck the post.

The second leg takes place at Manchester City’s Academy Stadium next Wednesday at 16:00 GMT.

City suffer without skipper Houghton

With England centre-back Steph Houghton out with an Achilles injury, City struggled defensively as goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck kept the English side in the tie in the first half.

Roebuck was at her best to deny Oshoala when through on goal before her opener and pulled off excellent diving saves to deny Aitana Bonmati and Putellas just before the break.

Barcelona were good value for their first-half lead through Oshoala’s first-time strike, but City did create a number of chances on the counter-attack.

Caroline Weir placed a tame effort straight at Barca keeper Sandra Panos and Kelly and Ellen White both failed to find the target from promising positions with the tie still goalless.

City boss Gareth Taylor will be left wondering what could have been had Kelly scored a crucial away goal to make it 2-1 after Lauren Hemp was brought down in the area.

Brilliant Barca show tactical nous

Spanish champions Barcelona have won all 20 of their league fixtures this season, scoring 99 goals and conceding just three.

And the 2019 Champions League runners-up showed their knockout football experience, consistently forcing errors from City’s defenders with a devastating high press.

Hermoso’s late goal means City must score at least three goals in the second leg just to take the tie to extra time.

It seems an unlikely task given Barcelona have not conceded three or more goals in a game since their 4-1 loss to Lyon in the 2019 Champions League final.