Manchester City rallied from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Bayern Munich in its return to the Women's Champions League at the start of the league phase on Tuesday.
Two-time European champion Arsenal needed a stoppage-time winner to defeat HB Køge 1-0 at home, while Inter Milan, making its debut in the competition proper, edged visiting Häcken by the same score.
Benfica won 2-1 at Juventus, and Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain drew 1-1 in the Spanish
capital.
Bayern, a semifinalist last season, got off to a quick start with Giulia Gwinn scoring in the 11th minute and with an own-goal by Kerstin Casparij in the 28th.
City began its rally before halftime, with Beth Mead netting in the 45th. Carlotta Wamser, who just joined City from Bayer Leverkusen, completed the comeback with a shot from inside the area in the 86th for her first Champions League goal.
“It feels very special. It’s a dream as a kid to play in the Champions League and play against the best players in the world," Wamser said, according to UEFA.com.
Forward Khadija Shaw missed a 62nd-minute penalty kick for City, which became the first English team not to lose away to Bayern in Europe.
“We lost intensity a bit in the second half and made too many mistakes and too easy mistakes, and at this level it goes against you, so we have to learn from it,” Bayern midfielder Linda Dallmann said. “We had the chances, especially at the end, we had two big chances. At this level, you have to score. I think we deserved it at the end. But it’s our fault, we have to work on that.”
City made it to the quarterfinals two seasons ago, being eliminated by Chelsea, but didn't qualify for the European tournament last season.
“We want to show what we’re about in Europe," Mead said. "We showed that in the second half here, now we need to do it for 90 minutes. Obviously it’s a very different competition compared to domestic football. Hopefully we can get up to speed quickly and show what we’re about against Madrid (in the next game).”
It made it back after its first year under coach Andrée Jeglertz, who helped the team end Chelsea’s dominance of the Women’s Super League to claim its first league title in a decade. City also won the FA Cup to complete a domestic double.
It was Bayern's first competitive match at its new venue, the Sportpark Unterhaching.
Arsenal, the 2024-25 champion, was headed to a scoreless draw against Danish club HB Køge at home when Mariona Caldentey converted a penalty kick three minutes into stoppage time.
HB Køge, playing in the competition proper for the first time since the 2021-22 season, withstood the Arsenal pressure for most of the match until conceding the late penalty.
Real Madrid and PSG played to a 1-1 draw in Madrid, while Benfica won 2-1 at Juventus with a pair of goals by Marit Bratberg Lund.
Haley Bugeja scored five minutes into the match and Inter held on for its opening victory over Swedish club Häcken.
“It was special for us, and special to see how maturely we played. We scored early and then we took a step back, but I’m very happy about our second half,” Inter coach David Sassarini said. "I am happy about the win. We showed we can play in this competition, and the ambition now is to improve on certain things and keep it up.”
The visitors saw goalkeeper Jennifer Falk sent off in the 89th.
Inter, making its debut after advancing through a penalty shootout win over Wolfsburg, twice hit the post with headers by Elisa Bartoli and Lina Magull.
“It was so special for me to captain Inter on such a historic night," Inter captain Irene Santi said. "It was incredible, and we played so well as a team.”
Häcken defender Aivi Luik was the oldest group stage/league phase player at 41, according to UEFA.
“I don’t think about my record," she said. "I still feel young. The secret is coffee and chocolate. It wasn’t the result we wanted, we could have equalized but we didn’t and now we look forward to the next matches.”
The league phase, in its second year, has 18 teams competing over six matchdays. The top four advance directly to the quarterfinals and the clubs finishing between fifth and 12th compete in knockout phase playoffs in February.
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