Fujino’s double sparks WCL comeback win for Manchester City against Inter

Manchester City’s European campaign finally came roaring into life as they put four goals past Inter to record their first Women’s Champions League victory of the season and greatly improve their prospects of reaching the knockout stages.

The English side had to come from behind after a slow start but two goals from Aoba Fujino put them ahead before half-time, and second-half efforts from Kerstin Casparij and Grace Clinton gave them a 4-1 victory in Monza that doubled their points tally, after their draws against Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain.

The last two of those draws were frustrating results for Manchester City on home turf but they were far more fluid and clinical on the road, in the second half particularly, despite deploying a much-rotated team.

With more than half an eye on Saturday’s pivotal meeting with their domestic title rivals Chelsea, Andrée Jeglertz rested several of his key players, including their top-scorer Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw, the in-form winger Lauren Hemp and the ever-dependable midfield metronome Yui Hasegawa, all of whom were substitutes. They were joined on the bench by Rebecca Knaak, and therefore – with England’s Alex Greenwood missing the trip altogether with an ankle injury – Gracie Prior was handed her first Champions League appearance this season, starting at left-sided centre-back.

Prior was beaten in the air by the sheer speed and precision of Ivana Andrés’ pinpoint cross when Inter opened the scoring through Elisa Bartoli’s header, as the hosts took the lead somewhat against the run of play. Falling behind against an Inter team who have not conceded in any of their six Women’s Serie A matches this season was not an ideal situation for the English side to find themselves in, but they remained patient.

The visitors took a while to click in attack but equalised nine minutes after going behind, when Fujino timed her run perfectly to latch on to Laura Blindkilde Brown’s classy, defence-splitting through ball. Fujino slotted in her second with ease from close range, just a minute before the end of the first half, on the rebound after a Mary Fowler effort was only half-cleared.

Despite having taken the lead, Jeglertz called upon two members of his cavalry – Hemp and Knaak – at half-time, continuing to manage other regular starters’ match minutes: Fujino was given a rest, along with Jade Rose.

Inter almost levelled three minutes after the restart but Ayaka Yamashita did superbly well to get a fingertip to Haley Bugeja’s bending effort, which looked destined for the bottom corner. The WSL champions were looking the stronger, though, aided by fine performances from Blindkilde Brown and Sam Coffey in midfield.

Coffey delivered a clever ball into the box to find Casparij through the middle and Casparij’s finish into the corner gave the English side a two-goal cushion. They began to turn on the style from then, spreading the ball into wide spaces much quicker than they had done earlier in the contest, embracing the lively movement of Hemp and Iman Beney.

Hemp, who had three goal contributions in her previous two appearances, dinked a delightful cross to the far post for Clinton to make it 4-1 from a tight angle, with Hemp’s delivery leaving the travelling fans purring. Her direct runs at the Inter right-back were a major worry for the hosts.

Yamashita pulled off her second world-class save of the night, this time a quick reaction save, to deny Michela Cambiaghi from close range, as Inter attempted to claw their way back into the match in the closing stages but City’s game-management was more than adequate as they calmly completed an important away victory. They will head to Stamford Bridge in a rich vein of form for one of the most important-looking WSL fixtures of the year.