Barcelona lay down marker in Women's Champions League, Arsenal slip up

PARIS: Barcelona continued their emphatic start to their defence of the Women's Champions League title by brushing aside Roma 6-0 in the Italian capital on Wednesday, while a bizarre penalty incident caused Arsenal to let slip a two-goal lead at Paris FC.

The Catalans are showing no signs of missing ex-star Alexia Putellas, who joined the London City Lionesses in the close-season, as they now boost six points from two league phase outings and 11 goals scored.

Caroline Graham Hansen netted in last week's opening 5-2 win at home to Paris FC, and she got Barca off the mark in Rome inside 20 minutes.

A Shukurat Oladipo own goal put the visitors two-up before the break.

Claudia Pina made the points safe early in the second period, before Graham Hansen completed her brace to bring her tally to three already in the tournament.

Pina then netted again in the final quarter of an hour and Ewa Pajor put the cherry on the cake late on.

After an unconvincing win at home to HB Koge courtesy of an injury-time Mariona Caldentey penalty in matchday one, 2025 champions Arsenal found themselves on the other end of a late spot-kick call as Paris FC fought back to hold them to a 2-2 draw.

Goals just either side of the interval from Alessia Russo and Georgia Stanway put Arsenal in control in the French capital.

Clara Mateo halved the deficit in the 71st minute for the Parisians.

Renee Slegers's side looked set to be able to hold their opponents at arm's length but a momentary lapse by captain Leah Williamson undid the Gunners with just three minutes remaining.

Goalkeeper Misa Rodriguez popped the ball down inside the six-yard box and passed it over to the England defender, who handled it to readjust prior to taking a goal-kick.

Referee Iuliana Demetrescu adjudged the ball already to be in play and pointed to the spot, from where Maeline Mendy made no mistake to ensure the spoils were shared.

Record eight-time winners OL Lyonnes survived two potential penalty calls that were denied by a VAR intervention to hold on to a 0-0 draw at home to Chelsea.

Last season's beaten finallists could have won it themselves but Salma Paralluelo's strike was disallowed for offside.

Bayern Munich romped to a 3-0 win at Benfica thanks to goals from Klara Buehl, Pernille Harder and Franziska Kett.

Juventus downed Hacken 3-0 in Sweden to bounce back from last Tuesday's defeat against Benfica.-AFP