PARIS (AP) — Tiny Danish club HB Køge must find a way to stop Barcelona's attacking power when it hosts the defending champion in the Women’s Champions League on Thursday.
Køge plays its home games on artificial turf, and its players took confidence from a 5-1 win over Swiss champion Servette. But last-place Servette has already conceded 13 goals in two games in the competition, so facing four-time champion Barcelona is a different level again for
Køge in terms of difficulty.
Barca routed eight-time champion OL Lyonnes 4-0 in last year's final for a third European crown in four seasons and is vying for a seventh straight final appearance. Barca has netted 11 goals in two games with free-scoring winger Caroline Graham Hansen leading the competition with three goals. The Norway international also has three assists. Furthermore, the past six women's ballon d'Or awards have been evenly split by Barca playersAitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas, who won it for the third time on Monday.
“Believe in yourself, that's the most important thing,” said Putellas, who played for Barca last season before joining London Lionesses. “If you have a dream, go for it.”
Père Romeu won coach of the year after guiding Barca to a domestic treble as well as the European title.
The coastal town sits on the Bay of Køge some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Copenhagen, and has a population of around 40,000.
A sea battle took place there against a Swedish fleet in 1710 and in 1807 Danish militia fought British troops led by Arthur Wellesley — later known as the Duke of Wellington. The Battle of Køge went down in folklore as Træskoslaget (the Clogs Battle).
After drawing with Real Madrid in the previous round, Manchester City is hosting Paris Saint-Germain.
City won a domestic league and cup double last season and is chasing a first women's Champions League title. So is PSG, which routed Belgian club OH Leuven 5-0 in the last round, with France forward Naomie Feller scoring twice.
Earlier this month, PSG won 4-2 away to City in a men’s Champions League contest featuring current and former champions. City is fighting a damning verdict into inflated revenue of more than 900 million pounds ($1.19 billion), but the women’s team is not implicated.
A rarity in the competition saw OL Lyonnes held to a scoreless draw by Chelsea three weeks ago.
Coach Jonatan Giráldez's Lyon side hosts Inter Milan on Wednesday. Inter has only scored twice so far and needed a goal from captain Ivana Andres Sanz with seconds left to salvage a draw at Austria Vienna.
Benfica defender Marit Bratberg Lund is aiming for her third goal of the competition when the Portuguese club travels to 2025 champion Arsena l on Wednesday.
Real Madrid has made a sluggish start with two draws and has a challenging match at Bayern Munich, touted as one of the pre-tournament favorites.
After blanking Lyon, 2021 runner-up Chelsea takes on Italian club Roma on Wednesday. Roma's confidence will be low after being crushed 6-0 by Barca and held goalless by Belgian side OH Leuven.
Servette needs a morale-boosting win on Wednesday when it hosts Leuven.
In Thursday's other matches, Paris FC hosts Häcken at Stade Charlety and Juventus goes to Vienna.
The competition has six match days, with the top four teams advancing to the quarterfinals and those finishing between fifth and 12th entering knockout-phase playoffs.
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