Inter v Manchester City: Women’s Champions League – live | Women’s Champions League

WCL half-time scores on the doors

• Inter 1-2 Man City (Bartoli 24; Fujino 33 44)

• PSG 0-2 Bayern Munich (Kiedrzynek OG 29, Bühl 40)

• Roma 2-0 Servette (Van Dooren 25, Pilgrim 34)

Aoba Fujino has turned it around for City with two composed finishes after Elisa Bartoli’s headed opener. Two excellent through balls from Laura Blindkilde Brown and Jade Rose set up City’s goals against an otherwise solid Inter defence.

The Spanish referee blows after the game restarts and City head in at the break with a deserved lead.

Andrés cannot catch Beney as she surges into the Inter area and cuts the ball back to Fowler. Her shot is saved by Runarsdottir at point-blank range but Fujino taps in the rebound.

City get their reward for a spell of prolonged pressure and it’s Fujino again!

42 min: A confident City side pop the ball around in midfield but Inter stand firm on the edge of their own box. The Inter left-wing back Robustellini provides an out-ball but she doesn’t get the support and the counterattack ends before it starts.

40 min: Coffey swings her leg at the ball when it sits up nicely on the edge of the box but it’s blocked before it can reach a possibly thankful Runarsdottir. That was travelling.

38 min: Inter can’t find a way out. Casparij leads the City charge down the right, with Beney sending a low cross into the area. Fowler takes it under her spell, swivels and prods a shot just wide of the far post. Inter will be wanting half-time already.

35 min: City look in the mood now – Fujino grabbed the ball out of the net and ran back to the centre circle after scoring. Beney tries her luck from the edge of the area but her shot flashes wide.

City hit back! Blindkilde Brown’s defence-splitting ball through is world-class and all Fujino has to do is slot it past Runnarsdottir inside the area.

Tom Garry

on match report duty

Well, well, well. How long until Andrée Jeglertz brings on the cavalry? At this rate, it might be as early as half-time. You can understand why the Manchester City head coach rested several key players with an eye on Saturday’s huge WSL game against Chelsea, but they are badly missing them.

30 min: Fowler tries her luck with a free-kick from about 25 yards out. Her shot flies past the flimsy Inter wall but Runnarsdottir takes it in easily.

29 min: City look a bit toothless with Shaw and Hemp on the bench. Fowler doesn’t look entirely comfortable being asked to play as a No 9 and Beney has not got into the game at all from the right.

27 min: City try their luck from distance a couple of times, with Blindkilde Brown’s latest effort a bit of a pea-roller into Runarsdottir’s grasp.

Two defenders combine for Inter! Andrés cut across the ball with her delivery but it had enough gusto on it for Bartoli to be able to glance it past Yamashita into the bottom corner.

Inter lead and it’s the 35-year-old veteran Bartoli who gets on the end of Andrés’s cross to head past Yamashita!

22 min: Inter win the ball high up the pitch and work it out wide, with Vilhjalmsdottir floating a cross towards the back post where Bugeja can’t get on the end of it. Glionna then launches a shot from distance that spins well, well, well wide.

20 min: Coffey crunches into another challenge on halfway, knocking over Polli before winning the ball. Coffey then looks for Clinton in the box but she can’t generate enough power on the header to trouble Runarsdottir.

18 min: Beney is careless on the ball as City try to launch a counter. Inter are doing a decent job of packing the middle of the pitch. A flick-on from Clinton doesn’t find a teammate on the edge of the Inter box.

16 min: Inter appeal for handball against Wamser as Prior’s flick-on comes off the City left-back at the back post. No dice.

14 min: Coffey crunches into Vilhjalmsdottir in midfield – the USA international is starting for just the second time in the last five games.

12 min: City found it a bit too easy to cut Inter open there. Inter showing the sort of defensive fragility that cost them six goals last time out against OL Lyonnes.

10 min: Great chance for City as Clinton slips the ball in behind the Inter defence – they’re playing a back five – and Fujino’s shot is too close to Runarsdottir. The flag had gone up but VAR would have intervened had the shot gone in because Fujino was clearly on.

8 min: Some hesitant hold-up play from Glionna gets Inter up the pitch but Rose is there to clean up. Inter go all the way back to Runarsdottir in goal.

6 min: Fujino comes in off the left and feeds the ball inside into Clinton’s path. The former Man Utd midfielder can’t get it under control and the space around her on the edge of the Inter box disappears.

4 min: City enjoy a spell of possession but it’s a bit too ponderous. Coffey and Casparij get their wires crossed on the near touchline and the former passes it straight out for a throw-in.

2 min: City squeeze up to put pressure on Inter on the edge of their own box. There’s a good noise coming from the main stand, drums and all.

Inter get us under way. They’re in blue and black, City in white.

Right, the teams are out at a sparsely populated Stadio Brianteo. We’re ready to go.

Inter usually play their home games at the ancient Arena Civica in Milan, which is so old that it used to host reconstructions of naval battles. Sadly Uefa have deemed that venue to be unsuitable for the Champions League, so Inter are tonight hosting from the U-Power Stadium, also known as the Stadio Brianteo, which is home to Monza’s men’s team.

They come into this one off the back of a 3-0 win in the derby against Milan on Saturday. Familiar faces in their lineup include the Italy veteran Elisa Bartoli and the former Real Madrid centre-back Ivana Andrés.

Final scores in the early kick-offs:

Chelsea miss the chance to go top of the 18-team league – leaders Barcelona host Arsenal on Thursday.

Early kick-offs: Chelsea’s Ellie Carpenter has her hands on her head after seeing Maika Hamano scoop her cut-back against the crossbar from a few yards out. They still have not found the breakthrough against Häcken and have a couple of minutes of stoppage time left.

WCL state of play – here’s how Inter and Man City have fared so far …

Inter’s record (9th)

1-0 win v Häcken (h)

1-1 draw v Austria Wien (a)

6-0 loss v OL Lyonnes (a)

Man City’s record (10th)

2-2 draw v Bayern Munich (a)

1-1 draw v Real Madrid (h)

1-1 draw v PSG (h)

So, a mixed bag for Inter, who are in the competition for just the second time, and pretty consistent from City.

Tom Garry

on match report duty

Lauren Hemp, the Manchester City winger, spoke of her Champions League title ambitions, during Monday’s pre-match press conference. The England international said, ahead of this tie against Inter: “It’s massive, being part of the Champions League and winning it is one of my aims, and it has been since I joined this club. We want to win trophies and the Champions League is definitely one on our list.”

Asked if we are still yet to see the best of City in the Champions League so far, Hemp added: “Against PSG I think we played really well. At times, we dominated. We could have got a lot more from the game but, at the end of the day, we missed a few chances. It’s important we build on every game.

“We’ve come up against really difficult opponents, as well. We’re also unbeaten, so it’s important to remember that. But each game, we want to build. There’s always still more to come from this City team but I’m proud of the performances we’ve put in so far in the Champions League.”

Early kick-offs: An all-action couple of minutes in Sweden as Alyssa Thompson has an effort cleared off the line for Chelsea after Livia Peng’s save stops Alva Selerud from giving Häcken an unlikely lead. Chelsea have had 20 shots to Häcken’s three and 76% possession – still 0-0, though.

Real Madrid have opened up a 2-0 lead against Paris FC through Arianna Caruso and Lineth Beerensteyn. There are just under 20 minutes to go in both games.

Andrée Jeglertz has rotated his Man City side before their heavyweight WSL clash with Chelsea on Saturday lunchtime.

Inter (4-4-2): Runarsdottir; Bartoli, Milinkovic, Andrés, Van Diemen; Glionna, Tomasevic, Vilhjalmsdottir, Robustellini; Polli, Bugeja.

Subs: Forcinella, Belli, Kullberg, Santi, Payne, Detruyer, Raphino, Giudici, Cambiaghi, Bressan.

Man City (4-2-3-1): Yamashita; Casparij, Rose, Prior, Wamser; Blindkilde Brown, Coffey; Beney, Clinton, Fujino; Fowler.

Subs: Cumings, Shimizu, Shaw, Hemp, Lohmann, Hasegawa, Knaak, Lewis, Burdon, Walker.

Manchester City’s right-back can not have been far away from making that world XI – she was the fifth-highest defender in the Ballon d’Or rankings and 24th overall.

Casparij has been speaking to Suzanne Wrack about her life as a footballer in an industry that is “not normal” …

I always want to be me and I want people that I knew 10 years ago to now speak to me and be able to be like: ‘Oh you haven’t changed a single bit, you’re still the same person.’ I have a lot of friends outside of football and it gives you such a sense of normality because football, the industry, is not normal and we are not necessarily normal.

We’re in the spotlight every three days at times. We’re getting judged on our performance, we’re getting judged on how we do our work, so I kind of need that sense of normality to make sure I don’t take things too seriously and really keep both my feet on the ground.

You can read the full interview here …

Fifpro announced its 2026 world XIs yesterday and there are seven WSL players selected, including Manchester City’s Alex Greenwood. Chelsea’s Lucy Bronze set a new record with her 9th appearance in the world XI.

Hannah Hampton (Chelsea, England)

Lucy Bronze (Chelsea, England)

Alex Greenwood (Man City, England)

Mapi León (Barcelona/London City, Spain)

Irene Paredes (Barcelona, Spain)

Aitana Bonmatí (Barcelona, Spain)

Alexia Putellas (Barcelona/London City, Spain)

Ella Toone (Man Utd, England)

Barbra Banda (Orlando Pride, Zambia)

Clàudia Pina (Barcelona, Spain)

Alessia Russo (Arsenal, England)

Early kick-offs: Chelsea have had two goals disallowed and hit the crossbar in the first half but are still being held by Häcken at the Nordic Wellness Stadium, which sounds very nice. There are no goals either in Spain between Real Madrid and Paris FC.

Half-time scores

Häcken 0-0 Chelsea

Real Madrid 0-0 Paris FC

After a week off, the Women’s Champions League returns tonight and our focus is on Monza, where Inter host Manchester City at the U-Power Stadium. After drawing their first three games in the WCL, City need to start winning if they want to progress automatically to the quarter-finals. They begin this set of fixtures 9th in the 18-team league phase, with only the top four guaranteed a spot in the last eight. Teams placed 5th to 12th head into the playoffs.

As for Inter, who finished 2nd in Serie A last season, this is another chance to test themselves against the best. David Sassarini’s side haven’t conceded a goal in domestic football this campaign but shipped six in their last WCL outing away to OL Lyonnes. They can produce an upset on their day, having dumped two-time champions Wolfsburg out in WCL qualifying in September.

We’ll hear from Man City’s Kerstin Casparij – she’s been speaking to Suzanne Wrack before this game – ahead of kick-off at 8pm. There will be updates from the evening’s other games, too, including Chelsea’s early kick-off in Sweden.