Taylor on Layzell’s ‘unbelievable’ display | OneFootball

Gareth Taylor has reflected on Naomi Layzell’s ‘unbelievable’ performance as she opened her City account in our 2-0 win over Barcelona.

City began our Group D campaign with victory over the holders, with the 20-year-old defender firing home from close-range to open the scoring and claim her first senior goal in the process.

She added to that with an assist for our second, setting up Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw with a pinpoint pass.

It was a memorable evening for the youngster and, while it was cut short with a suspected ankle injury, Taylor was delighted with her contribution.

“It was a weird action to be honest, we hoped it wasn’t an achilles injury, but she seems kind of okay,” the boss told the press on Layzell’s injury.

“It was like a rolled ankle, but she hasn’t rolled it. The physios are fairly positive.

“In her second Champions League game, scoring and assisting against Barcelona while out of position - unbelievable.

“It is special, and I think if you know Naomi you’d probably say it doesn’t surprise you.

“She’s very humble and coachable, takes on information very well.

“Playing not in her favoured position, she’s a centre-back for sure but to play how she has done in the WSL but also Champions League and qualifiers, like I say she’ll be on cloud nine and hopefully the injury isn’t bad.”

City became only the second team to prevent Barcelona from scoring in their past 80 matches in all competitions and were full value for the victory.

Indeed, with Lauren Hemp also hitting the post early on the win could even have been by a bigger margin.

For Taylor, our Barcelona display ranks among some of the finest displays his team have put on during his time in the dugout.

He added: “[It’s] right up there definitely, the performance in the first half especially was top and the second, we knew we’d have to weather the storm, and we did that well.

“The level in the first half was very good.

“I felt, with all respect to Barcelona, but we could’ve been three up, because of the pressure we put on them.”