Khadija Shaw on the double as Manchester City keep perfect Champions League record and progress to last eight
2 min read
Khadija Shaw’s brace fired Manchester City into the quarter-finals of the Women’s Champions League as they maintained their perfect record in Group D with a 2-1 win away to Hammarby.
Shaw overtook Georgia Stanway and Janine Beckie to become City’s all-time top scorer in the competition, scoring in either half in Stockholm to take her career tally to seven in the competition.
Ellen Wangerheim cancelled out Shaw’s 31st-minute opener at the start of the second half, but Shaw restored City’s lead in the 52nd minute and Khiara Keating came up with some key saves to see the game out for City.
City, needing only a point to be sure of progressing with two games to spare, responded well to Saturday’s 2-0 loss to Chelsea which ended their unbeaten start to the Women’s Super League campaign as they maintained their perfect start in the Champions League.
But to do it, they had to overcome both a difficult start to the game and a strong response from the hosts once they had fallen behind. Roared on by another bumper crowd of around 20,000 at the Tele2 Arena, Hammarby began brightly as they sought to avenge their 2-0 defeat in Manchester last week.
Former City midfielder Julie Blakstad was proving a particularly tricky customer as she pulled the strings, with Cathinka Tandberg flashing a shot wide early on.
City had chances to kill the game off late on. Shaw’s cross found the run of Aoba Fujino with 10 minutes to go but the Japan striker’s shot was palmed aside for a corner.
At the other end, Keating had to make another big save to keep out Anna Josendal’s effort following a corner, diving to her right to stop a powerful strike, and City hung on for another three-point haul.
