FC Barcelona Women began their journey towards a new Women's Champions League final, their sixth consecutive and seventh in the last eight seasons, with a thrashing at home against Bayern Munich. Pere Romeu's side crushed the Bavarians at the Johan Cruyff (7-1) under the watchful eye of Raphinha.
The Barça winger, in full recovery from his injury to his right thigh, accompanied the women's team during Hansi Flick's team's week off due to the international break. The party at the Cruyff was complete, with doubles from Ewa Pajor and Claudia Pina to put the Culés at the top of the overall standings.
In 25/26, the Women's Champions League also replaces the group stage with the league phase. However, unlike the men's Champions League, the women's final phase only includes 18 clubs, and therefore, each team faces six rivals, starting this October 7 and ending next December 17.
Barça Finished the Match With 4 Goals Before Halftime
The match was a Barça monologue from start to finish. Alexia Putellas opened the scoring in the 4th minute with a stunning goal from outside the area, and Ewa Pajor extended the lead in the 12th minute. With the Bavarian team on the verge of a KO, the "culés" continued to attack, and the third goal came in the 27th minute, scored by Esmee Brugts.
Bayern pulled one back in the 32nd minute, in the first opportunity the Germans had to get close to the Catalan area. Klara Bühl cut the distance to give the team from Munich some encouragement, but Salma Paralluelo made it 4-1 in the 45+1 minute to extinguish any hope of a reaction from a rival that barely managed a couple of shots on goal in the entire match.
Comfortable Barça thrashing to begin the Champions League group stage at the top
After the break, the match logically slowed down, with Bayern falling back much closer to their goal and the Barça team also slightly reducing their pace. Schüller scored for the Bavarians in the 49th minute, but her goal was disallowed for offside.
This revitalized Barça Femení, who in the 56th minute sealed the 'manita' with another good collective play finished by Ewa Pajor. With the Munich team completely overwhelmed, it was only a matter of time before more goals fell. In the 70th minute, Irene Paredes made it six, but her goal was also disallowed due to a prior offside.
When the match seemed destined to die with the score at 5-1, with neither Alexia Putellas nor Aitana Bonmatí on the field, Barça rounded off the rout with a couple more goals.
Claudia Pina, in the 88th and 90+2' minutes, completed the final 7-1 scoreline to round off a remarkable exhibition by Pere Romeu's team. Barça began the 25/26 season with six thrashings in seven matches, conceding just a couple of goals while scoring 38. Madness. On matchday 2 of the Champions League, next Wednesday, October 15th, the "culés" will travel to Italy to face Roma.
- Follow all the latest news from Barça Women in the Women's Football section of FCBN.