UWCL talking points: Chelsea impress, Arsenal left stunned

Matchday Three of this season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL) saw some more exciting matchups and gave us a taste of what’s to come as the table starts to take shape.

Tuesday saw minnows Vålerenga defeat Roma 1-0, before OL Lyonnes beat VfL Wolfsburg 3-1, Chelsea thrashed St. Pölten 6-0, and Real Madrid snatched a last-minute equalizer against Paris FC to end their game at 1-1.

Then on Wednesday, we saw Barcelona beat Oud-Heverlee Leuven 3-0, Bayern Munich stunning Arsenal with a 3-2 comeback win, Juventus beating Atlético Madrid 2-1, Benfica and FC Twente playing out to a 1-1 draw and in Mary Earps’ return to England, her former club Manchester United beating her current club Paris Saint-Germain 2-1.

We asked our writers Beth Lindop, Alex Kirkland and Tom Hamilton to answer some of our burning questions.

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Is Sam Kerr’s return the missing ingredient for Chelsea to end their UWCL wait?

Lindop: It might be 692 days since her last Chelsea start, after she suffered a long-term ACL injury, but Kerr’s two-goal display against St. Pölten in the 6-0 win proved that she still has all of the ingredients to be one of the best strikers in the world.

In the early stages on Tuesday night, the Australia international looked uncharacteristically rusty, spurning a number of chances before finally getting her first goal in the 72nd minute. She then followed this up with a trademark Kerr header in stoppage time. Although it still might take some time before she’s back to her very best, her return to scoring form could certainly give Chelsea the extra edge they have been missing in European competition.

Kirkland: It’s still early days, but two goals in Kerr’s first 90 minutes in almost two years is seriously encouraging for Chelsea, and worrying for their rivals. She took a while to get going against St. Pölten, as you’d expect, but Kerr’s goalscoring knack is something you never lose. And yes, Chelsea are looking good, but let’s see how they get on against Barcelona — Europe’s gold standard for years now — later this month. That’s a proper test, and that’s when we’ll be able to judge where they, and Kerr, are at.

Hamilton: Kerr’s return should be ominous for the rest of European football. And this commanding win in Austria also coincided with Lauren James and Naomi Girma’s comebacks, that’s a trio of world-class options to have available. They’re unbeaten in the Champions League thus far, and with Barcelona on the horizon, Kerr’s return is timely and makes Sonia Bompastor’s team even more lethal.

Beth is right, it’ll take time for her to fine-tune her radar up front, but the two goals suggest she’s on the right path. But it’ll take time, and let’s not read too much into this quite yet – this was hardly an acid test. Chelsea had 43 shots, with 19 on target. However, Kerr’s return is huge, and if she gets back to her best, then Chelsea should be cemented as favorites for the tournament. The challenge for Bompastor is to work out how to keep all of her forward options happy.

Does Vålerenga’s win over Roma justify the new UWCL format?

Lindop: We all love a football fairytale and, for all of its flaws, the new 18-team single-league phase format helps to facilitate that. Vålerenga have been pretty unlucky so far, pushing Manchester United and Wolfsburg all the way before narrowly losing, so it was great to see them secure their first victory in the competition against Roma.

The fact that FC Twente held Chelsea to a 1-1 draw on the first matchday is further proof that there is plenty of scope for upsets, and hopefully there are few more in store before we reach the knockout stages.

Kirkland: It was great: just what this tournament should be all about, but so often isn’t. And the fact that Valerenga’s victory was sealed by such a stunning solo goal, scored by Stine Brekken, made it even better. Brekken put it best afterwards: “We’ve been fighting for so long to get better and try to compete here, and today we got to show it.”

And that’s exactly the point: teams like Valerenga need experience at this level, against top teams, to develop. Last year, they drew one and lost five of their UWCL games. Now, they’re beating Roma. Fantastic.

Hamilton: The Valerenga match was magic, so too the sight of their manager, Nils Lexerod in the stands at halftime leading a sing-along, having been suspended from standing on the touchline. At full time, they celebrated with their chef. The OH Leuven story has also been eye-catching, after their draw at Paris FC and win over Twente.

Those are lifelong memories. Elsewhere, FC Twente’s draw with Chelsea was a tournament highlight, and here’s to many more upsets and twists along the way.

What’s going wrong at Arsenal right now?

Lindop: As defending champions, Arsenal now have a target on their backs. Defensive injuries aren’t helping their cause, with academy graduate Katie Reid having suffered an ACL injury in training, but it is the psychological aspect of Wednesday night’s defeat that will perhaps concern head coach Renee Slegers most.

Having gone 2-0 up in the first half, Arsenal were cruising and, while Bayern boss Jose Barcala deserves credit for his impactful substitutions, a team bidding to go all the way in this competition should not be capitulating in the way that Arsenal did after the break. The Gunners need to find some consistency, particularly at the back. But, with several key personnel missing, that might be easier said than done.

Hamilton: I agree with Beth, and while Barcala got his substitutions right, the replacements Slegers made disrupted their rhythm. Pernille Harder came off the Bayern bench and changed the match, but when Arsenal emptied theirs, they lost all rhythm and cohesion. The brilliant pressing and hustling we saw in the first half disappeared, and it left Harder to dictate the tempo of the match.

It’s clear there’s some hangover from last season. While that wonderful victory was in part driven by sheer emotion, it’s hard to replicate that. The injuries aren’t helping, and the new signings haven’t yet been fully integrated. It’s going to take a little juggling from Slegers to get the ship back on track.

The two Madrid clubs had very different games. What’s the difference between them right now?

Kirkland: Both Real Madrid and Atletico were trailing by a goal, going into the final minutes of their games with Paris FC and Juventus, respectively. The difference is simple: Madrid dug deep, summoned up some of that intangible, mysterious “Real Madrid in the Champions League” spirit, and somehow found a 98th-minute equalizer through Caroline Weir; and Atletico weren’t able to do the same a day later.

In previous seasons, Real Madrid have felt not quite mature enough as a team to properly compete at this level. Remember, this is only their fifth UWCL campaign since the team’s formation in 2020. They’re still far from the perfect team, and I wouldn’t rank them among the favorites to win this tournament, but they’ve now got a nice blend of cool-headed veterans like Weir, and carefree, talented youngsters like Linda Caicedo. Let’s see how far it takes them.

Everyone was talking about Mary Earps before her Man United return, but was she upstaged?

Lindop: When the team sheets dropped at Old Trafford on Wednesday night, the news that Safia Middleton-Patel was starting in goal for Manchester United will certainly have raised a few eyebrows. Phallon Tullis-Joyce has been a colossus in goal for United since the start of last season, and so her injury will understandably be a cause of concern for Marc Skinner and his staff.

But, making just her second senior appearance for the club, Middleton-Patel performed admirably, rising to the occasion and making a huge save to deny Anaïs Ebayilin when the scores were level early in the second half. As far as Earps is concerned, it was a disappointing return to Manchester, but it was nice to see her applauding supporters at the full-time whistle. It’s been a tough week for the former England international, but she still has plenty of fans at United and beyond.

Hamilton: Having been at Old Trafford, the reception Earps received at the start of the match was markedly different from the one at the end. She was greeted with boos (interspersed with cheers) at the outset, but by the end of the match, as she walked around the pitch, there were signs supporting her and plenty of love.

But the star goalkeeper on the night was Middleton-Patel. She only found out she was starting at mid-afternoon on Wednesday, and put in a brilliant performance. No goalkeeper in the world could’ve saved Olga Carmona’s shot, and she was calm and measured throughout. You could never have guessed Middleton-Patel was in just her second match on such a stage.

What was your favorite goal of the round?

Lindop: I’m actually going to go with Kerr’s second against St. Pölten. It wasn’t the most spectacular goal, nor the most decisive in terms of the result, but it was absolutely classic Kerr: rising highest to nod home from a Niamh Charles cross. It’s been such a long time since we got to see the striker at her very best, but that trademark finish offered the perfect reminder of what she’s all about.

Kirkland: Weir’s late equalizer for Real Madrid was hard to top in terms of drama, but the quality of the strike was nothing compared to Emma Stølen Godø’s free kick for Juventus at Atlético. But actually, forget both: my favorite is a goal I mentioned earlier, Brekken’s solo effort for Valerenga. A dribble that starts with a nutmeg: what’s not to like?!

Hamilton: There were some superb efforts: Mariona Caldentey’s against Bayern was so beautifully judged, while Fridolina Rolfö’s header against PSG was a result of a wonderful team move. But I’m going for Carmona’s goal against Manchester United in the same match. I’m biased as I saw it live, but it was just one of those perfect shots that seemed to hang for an age in the sky and was completely impossible to save.