One thing is starting well but another is beating Bayern Munich 7-1 in your opening fixture of this season's Champions League. That is precisely what Pere Romeu's Barça Women side did at the Estadi Johan Cruyff on Tuesday on a great European night in which they laid down their credentials once again as one of the favourites for the competition. 

On a warm October evening in Barcelona, captain Alexia Putellas got Barça off to the best possible start with a goal after just four minutes. The two time Ballon d'Or winner picked her spot perfectly from the edge of the box to open the scoring in the Estadi Johan Cruyff. 

In the 12th minute it was 2-0 with Ewa Pajor scoring with a tremendous volley from a corner after Paredes' effort had come back off the crossbar. Dominant against the Germans it came as no surprise when in the 27th minute Brugts made it 3-0 after a move involving Alexia and Aitana. 

German mini fightback

With the score at 3-0, the Germans clicked into gear. While they had barely posed any threat in the first 30 minutes, after Barça’s third goal, Jose Barcala’s team began to make their presence felt in the game. A goal from Bühl that made it 3-1 in the 32nd minute but any hope of a comeback were extinguished when Salma Paralluelo scored a fourth goal for the blaugranes before half time. 

After the break, Pajor scored her second and the team's fifth after Alexia won the ball back and laid on a perfect assist for the Polish striker. After missing the match against Eibar due to injury, Clàudia Pina added two late goals: one after a great counterattack orchestrated by the newly crowned Kopa Trophy winner, Vicky López, and a second after she pounced on a loose ball in the box. 

The final whistle signified a great result for Pere Romeu's team in the opening fixture of a 2025/26 Champions League with a revamped format for the women's game, the new league phase echoing the changes made to the men's competition last season.

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    MATCH STATS

    BARÇA, 7
    BAYERN, 1

    Barça: Cata Coll, O. Batlle, Paredes, María León, Brugts, Aitana (Schertenleib, Min 81), Patri, Alexia (Serrajordi, Min 81), Graham (Vicky, Min 73), Pajor (Kika, Min 73), Paralluelo (Pina, Min 56).

    Bayern: Mahmutovic, Simon (Katharina Naschenweng, Min 41), Eriksson, Ballisager (Viggósdóttir, Min 63), Kett, Stanway, Caruso, Bühi, Harder (Alara, Min 63), Tanikawa (Dallmann, Min 63), Schüller (Padilla, Min 76).

    Goals: 1-0, Alexia (Min 4); 2-0, Pajor (Min 12); 3-0, Brugts (Min 27); 3-1, Bühl (Min 32); 4-1, Paralluelo (Min 45+1); 5-1, Pajor (Min 56); 6-1, Pina (Min 88); 7-1, Pina (Min 92).

     

    Força Barça