Shaw rested in City’s first Champions League win

GOTHENBURG, Sweden (AP):

Manchester City secured their first win of this season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League campaign yesterday, cruising to a 4-1 victory over Inter Milan though Jamaican striker Khadija Shaw failed to make it onto the pitch.

Shaw, an unused substitute, missed out after scoring a hat-trick, her ninth, against West Ham in the Women’s Super League on Sunday. In her absence, City benefited from Aoba Fujino’s brace, completed in the 33rd and 44th minutes, as well as Kerstin Casparij in the 56th and a strike from Grace Clinton in the 70th.

After opening with three consecutive draws, the emphatic triumph lifted the English champions to seventh in the 18-team standings and boosted their hopes of reaching the knockout stages.

The result was among the highlights of the latest round of fixtures, which also saw Chelsea held to a goalless draw away to Häcken in Sweden, denying the London club the chance to move to the top of the table.

Chelsea dominated proceedings, registering 29 attempts on goal, but could not find a breakthrough. Maika Hamano came closest when her stoppage-time effort clipped the crossbar.

The draw left Chelsea on eight points, a tally later matched by Bayern Munich after the German champions secured a 2-1 victory away to Paris Saint-Germain.

Former Chelsea star Pernille Harder played a key role in Bayern’s success. Her surging run led to an own goal by PSG goalkeeper Katarzyna Kiedrzynek in the 29th minute before she set up Klara Bühl for Bayern’s second just before half-time. PSG pulled one back through a Paulina Dudek penalty in the 65th minute, but Bayern held on for all three points.

Elsewhere, Real Madrid defeated Paris FC 3-0, with substitutes Lineth Beerensteyn and Linda Caicedo among the scorers, while Roma edged Servette 2-1.

Defending champions Barcelona and 2025 winners Arsenal are scheduled to meet on Thursday in a rematch of last season’s final, while Lyonnes face Juventus today.

With two rounds of matches remaining after this week’s action, the race for quarterfinal places remains finely poised. Only the top four teams advance directly to the last eight, while teams finishing from fifth to 12th will enter a knockout playoff round.

For Shaw and Manchester City, yesterday’s result represented a timely breakthrough as they finally turned promising performances into maximum points on the European stage.