The Spanish team Barcelona began its defense of the Women's Champions League title with a huge victory at home against the French club Paris FC, 5-2, on Wednesday evening.
The Parisian team did not maintain its lead with an early goal scored by Evelyn Viens five minutes into the match that was held at the Johan Cruyff Stadium in the Catalan Club's Juan Gamper Sports City.
The European champions responded quickly with the equalizer scored by Brazilian Keruline in the 18th minute, and they punished the visitors with a hat-trick by Clara Sirajordi, Eva Bayor and Caroline Graham-Hansen in the 28th, 35th and 43rd minutes, ending the first half with Barcelona leading 4/1.
In the second half, Bayor scored her second goal and her team's fifth in the 70th minute, and Paris FC reduced the gap with a second goal by Clara Mathieu in the 73rd minute.
In another match at the same time, Chelsea of England defeated its guest, Austria Vienna, with a single goal, scored by Vicke Kaptein in the 11th minute.
Earlier on Wednesday, French club Olympique Lyonnais defeated its Swiss host, Servette, 8-0, while Italian club Roma tied without goals against Belgian club Leuven.
The Champions League competitions began on Tuesday evening, with Bayern Munich of Germany drawing with Manchester City of England with a score of 2-2, Inter Milan of Italy achieving a difficult victory over Hacken of Sweden with a score of 1-0, and Arsenal of England over Cog of Denmark with the same score.
Portuguese Benfica also won 2-1 away from Italian Juventus.
The league stage will be held in its second year with the participation of 18 teams, competing over six rounds, after which the top four clubs qualify directly for the quarter-finals, while the clubs occupying positions from fifth to twelfth will participate in playoff elimination matches during the month of February.
The six rounds of the league stage will begin on September 22 and its competitions will continue until December 16. The final of the tournament will be held at the National Stadium in the Polish capital, Warsaw, in late May.
Germany coach Jurgen Klopp refused to make any promises to achieve titles on Wednesday, but made it clear that signs of improvement must be apparent when he faces the Netherlands national team in the first match under his leadership in the European Nations League on Thursday.
The former Liverpool coach took over from Julian Nagelsmann in July, following Germany's shock exit from the 2026 World Cup.
Nagelsmann had said after exiting the quarter-finals in the 2024 European Championship that he was sad because he would have to wait two years to lift the World Cup, an expectation that came back to haunt him when his team exited the tournament at the hands of Paraguay this summer.
Klopp was asked about his statement at the beginning of his career with Liverpool when he stated that he would likely win a title if he continued in his position after four years. He then succeeded in winning a series of titles, including the English Premier League and the European Champions League.
Klopp was more cautious on Wednesday, as he said in a press conference in the capital, Amsterdam: “I do not want to promise anything.” What I can say is we will try and that's what it comes down to now. “This is our location at the moment.”
Germany, the four-time world champion, exited early from the last three World Cups, and has not tasted success in major tournaments since lifting its last World Cup title in 2014.
Klopp raised eyebrows earlier this week when he announced two separate squads for two groups of two matches in the coming days, as part of rebuilding the national team before the 2028 European Championship.
Klopp said: “I am responsible for the first team and my mission is to develop football there so that we are able to compete and win every match we play. It won't work every day but we're working on it. “I hope we can actually see some things tomorrow.”
He added: “We need to take steps, and the players are ready for that.”
After visiting the Netherlands on Thursday, Germany will host Greece on Sunday and Serbia on October 1, before traveling to face Greece three days later.
The features of the starting lineup that Roberto Mancini will adopt in Italy's first match in the European Nations League against Belgium are clear, as Francesco Pio Esposito, Nicolo Zaniolo and Daniel Maldini are expected to lead the attack.
The match will be held at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Friday at 19:45 UK time (20:45 Central European Summer Time).
The group also includes France and Turkey, who will face each other in the other match scheduled for the same day.
Mancini intends to adopt a 4/3/3 plan, but he faces options imposed on him, given the absence of Federico Demarco, Brian Cristante and Marco Balestra due to injury, in addition to the suspension of Alessandro Bastoni.
Inter striker Pio Esposito is still the most prominent candidate, compared to Moise Kean, to lead the attacking line, but there are many options available to complete the attacking trio.
According to the Corriere dello Sport newspaper, Zaniolo, on the right side, and Maldini, on the left side, appear to be the most likely options, instead of Nicolo Cambiaghi and Giacomo Raspadori.
This is a big step for Zaniolo, who has completely missed call-ups to the national team for the past two years.
It seems that the midfield has been decided, as Alessandro Romano will participate in his first match with the Italian national team instead of Samuele Ricci, surrounded by two of the old guard, Nicolo Barella and Sandro Tonali.
Riccardo Calafiore can finally follow his approach with Arsenal by playing in the left defender position instead of central defence, while ensuring the participation of Gianluca Mancini as well.
The only remaining doubts are the comparison between Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Michael Kayode to occupy the right defender position, as the veteran Napoli player is considered the most likely candidate. As for the defensive depth, it will depend largely on Giorgio Scalvini’s physical readiness.
If the Atalanta defender is not ready, Diego Coppola may replace him.
