Her Football Hub
·22 November 2024
Her Football Hub
·22 November 2024
Alexia Putellas marked another incredible goal milestone as Barcelona comfortably secured their latest Champions League win. The reigning champions put four past St Pölten, with Alexia wrapping up her side’s scoring to notch her 200th Barca goal.
Barcelona sit second in Group D with nine points, behind Manchester City who have enjoyed a perfect run in the UWCL group stages. Hammarby IF are third on three points, while St Pölten continue their search for their first point of the campaign.
St Pölten had been looking to learn their lesson from their last meeting with the Catalan giants — falling to a hefty 7-0 defeat earlier this month.
Barcelona started strongly against Pölten in the Generali Arena, with a starting 11 that would intimidate any team in the world. With a front line of Caroline Graham-Hansen, Alexia and Kika Nazareth it should be no surprise that the away side bagged four goals in comfortable fashion.
Schlüter; Schumacher, Johanning, Dubcová, Vračević, D’Angelo, Pekel, Hillebrand, Mikolajová, Brunnthaler, Mädl
Coll; Fernández, Engen, Torrejón, Brugts, Lopez, Walsh, Guijarro, Graham Hansen, Alexia, Kika
Keira Walsh looked sturdy in midfield throughout the game as Barcelona retained 85 percent of the possession across the 90 minutes. The breakthrough in the scoreline didn’t take long, as Kika bagged the first goal following a defensive mistake from midfielder Kamila Dubcová.
Kika soon capitalised on some clever footwork from Esmee Brugts to find her second goal of the night, leaving the Pölten side looking for way to scrape their way back into the fixture.
The goal tally started to get away from Pölten as Vicky Lopez managed to finish a calm side-footed effort into the back of the net, past German goalkeeper Schlüter. The travelling Barcelona fans were then treated to a goal from Alexia — her 200th in a Barcelona shirt as the Catalan legend stayed calm and found the back of the net from inside the opposition box.
Things began to look a little better for the Lower Austrians as Austria youth international Valentina Mäd captialised on a chance to put a goal in the Barcelona net, making the score 4-1. However, a comeback was not on the cards for Pölten despite the 30 more minutes of play. Both teams slowed down and the tie ended in a Barcelona victory.
Despite the result there was still much to celebrate for St. Pölten as 8,832 people attended the game in Vienna. This marks an attendance record for women’s league football in Austria. The Barcelona and Pölten fans greeted the announcement of the attendance figures with rapturous applause throughout the stadium, with the Pölten ultras finding the police siren on their loudspeaker to good effect.
On December 12th, St. Pölten will face Manchester City for a second time after a strong performance in Vienna, ending in a narrow 3-2 loss for the Austrians. Defending champions Barcelona take on Hammarby, in what is sure to be another huge attendance due to the cult following of both teams.