Manchester City Women finally have a Champions League win in this league phase, and they earned it the hard way in Italy — Aoba Fujino scored twice before half-time as City came from behind to beat Inter 4-1 on Tuesday night.
City arrived on Matchday 4 still searching for a first victory after drawing their opening three matches, a run that had left them ninth in the 18-team league phase and in danger of being cut adrift from the automatic quarter-final places. The full results list on UEFA confirms the scale of the turnaround: from a goal down in Italy to a three-goal win that changes the mood around Andree Jeglertz and his side.
Fujino turns the game on its head
Inter struck first. On 24 minutes, Elisa Bartoli put the hosts ahead, finishing from Ivana Andres and giving the Italian side exactly the start they wanted against a City team short on European confidence.
The response was ruthless. As the live record on VAVEL recorded, Fujino levelled on 33 minutes and then struck again right before the interval — 44 minutes on the Sportradar clock, 45 on VAVEL — to send City in 2-1 up at half-time. Two goals in 11 minutes had flipped a difficult away night into one City suddenly controlled.
Fujino was withdrawn at half-time, with Lauren Hemp sent on in her place, but the damage was done. Inter, who had been beaten 6-0 by Lyon in their previous European outing, never found a way back.
Casparij and Clinton finish the job
City put the result beyond doubt early in the second half. On 56 minutes, Kerstin Casparij made it 3-1, converting Sam Coffey's assist, and on 70 minutes Grace Clinton added the fourth from Hemp's pass.
From there, Jeglertz could manage the game. Sydney Lohmann, Risa Shimizu, Rebecca Knaak and Yui Hasegawa all came on, Shimizu collecting the game's only yellow card, and City saw out the closing stages without alarm to complete a 4-1 win — their biggest statement of this European campaign so far.
It was a good night elsewhere for English clubs too, even if Chelsea could not find a winner in their Hacken draw in Gothenburg, while Bayern's win in Paris — covered in our Bayern report — kept the German side unbeaten at the top end of the table.
So what does this mean for City?
A first win after three draws lifts City firmly back into the play-off picture and keeps the automatic quarter-final places — reserved for the top four — within reach with two league-phase matches still to play. Just as importantly, it was a win built on squad depth: Fujino decided the first half, Hemp created the fourth after replacing her, and Clinton, a half-time storyline in herself this season, got on the scoresheet.
For Inter, a second heavy European defeat in a row leaves their campaign hanging by a thread. Bartoli's opener showed they can hurt good sides, but conceding four at home, a fortnight after conceding six to Lyon, tells its own story about the level required in this competition.
Beyond the Final Whistle: This is the night City's European season stopped drifting. Three draws had flattered nobody — they were a good side playing without a killer moment. Fujino gave them two in 11 minutes, and suddenly a team that looked bound for an anxious December looks like one nobody will want in the play-offs. The first win is often the hardest. City made it look easy in the end.
Can City now push for a top-four finish and an automatic quarter-final place, or are the play-offs their realistic ceiling this season? Let us know in the comments.
