Manchester City cruise into Champions League last-16, Chelsea bow out to 2016 finalists

It was a mixed bag of results for British clubs in the second leg of the UEFA Women’s Champions League Round of 32.

Manchester City, in their first-ever Champions League campaign, continued to impress as they put four goals past Zvezda in Russia.

A Jen Beattie brace plus strikes from Lucy Bronze and Izzy Christiansen helped the WSL champions through to a 6-0 aggregate win.

“I thought we were good in the first leg, but I think we wanted to be a bit more in control of the game,” said manager Nick Cushing afterwards.

“When you travel away in the Champions League, and it’s your first-ever away leg and you score four and don’t concede, of course I’m really pleased.”

England international, Bronze, got on the scoresheet for City – Photo: Marc Atkins / Offside.

Chelsea, taken apart 3-0 by Wolfsburg at Stamford Bridge last week, had been urged by manager Emma Hayes to take responsibility for their own performance.

They did just that, turning in a much-improved display in Germany, with Eni Aluko’s goal just before half-time hinting that they could perhaps turn things round.

Wolfsburg, however, are experienced campaigners at this level, and stayed focused – Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir scored ten minutes from time to restore their three-goal advantage and usher them through to the next round.

Hibernian had a tough time of it against a dominant Bayern Munich – who include Scotland star Lisa Evans in their team. She grabbed a goal in their 4-1 win over the Scottish side (10-1 on aggregate).

Manager Chris Roberts was happy to see his side score a goal, describing it as “a special moment we can remember”, and was already looking forward to next season – Hibs will return having finished in the top two of the Scottish league.

Two Olivia Schough goals secured Eskilstuna’s progress at the expense of Glasgow City, playing their home leg at the Excelsior Stadium in Airdrie. Glasgow did well to hold their Swedish opponents to a 1-1 draw in the first leg, but despite Sarah Crilly pulling one back for the hosts, it just wasn’t enough.

*Carrie Dunn is SHOOT’s Women’s Football correspondent. Her book ‘The Roar of the Lionesses: Women’s Football in England’ is out now – available in all good bookshops.*