The Women's Champions League returned this week and with it came a host of unanswered questions for the ambitious English trio involved. Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City all have designs on winning the competition and, on the face of it, got their campaigns off to solid starts. Arsenal and Chelsea both have three points after narrow home wins while City recovered from 2-0 down for a creditable draw at heavyweights Bayern Munich.
But scratch deeper, and this was an unconvincing week, particularly given last season's finalists Barcelona and Lyon both opened with commanding victories. Are the Women's Super League clubs equipped to challenge this season? What still needs addressing?
And who has the best chance of lifting the trophy in Warsaw next May? Last season, Manchester City exploited their absence from European competition to romp to the Women's Super League title. In returning to the elite tier this season, their squad will face greater tests, and that was immediately true when 2025-26 semi-finalists Bayern Munich raced into a two-goal lead.
But Andree Jeglertz's team gave an immediate indication they belong at this level by recovering to draw 2-2, with summer signings Beth Mead and Carlotta Wamser justifying their arrival at the champions with their first goals for the club. That was crucial given usual goalscorer Khadija Shaw surprisingly proved fallible in missing a penalty. When she inevitably finds her shooting boots, City should be just fine in this competition.
Man City fight back from two down to thwart Bayern With only two goals and five points from three matches, it has been an inauspicious start to the season for Arsenal, who have been bullish in targeting trophies. Up against Danish minnows HB Koge, it was not just the Disney+ TV coverage of the game that was marred by glitches. Arsenal's expected goals tally of 1.93 does not tell the story of a performance that was dominant with the ball, but they only fashioned two shots on target against a side they were expected to beat comfortably.
Boss Renee Slegers made a raft of changes, including resting Alessia Russo, but the eight forwards she ultimately featured struggled to breach the resolute visitors' backline, with the Gunners requiring a 95th-minute penalty to steal the points. Dismissing lower-ranked teams at the start of competition has been an Achilles' heel for Arsenal and, while they did win, tougher tests await and Slegers needs to find a solution. Ad break in Women's Champions League was unscheduled Wasteful Arsenal need late penalty to beat Koge A brilliant goal from Wieke Kaptein handed Chelsea victory on their opening night in what was a promising attacking performance from the Blues.
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