PARIS: Barcelona bounced back from an opening-day defeat to thrash Hammarby 9-0 in the Women’s Champions League on Wednesday, while Bayern Munich fought to a 2-0 win at Juventus.
Holders Barca routed their Swedish opponents in Catalonia, putting down a marker after slumping to a shock loss to Manchester City last week.
Goals by Caroline Graham Hansen, Claudia Pina and Alexia Putellas put the hosts in charge by half-time.
Mapi Leon added a fourth and Pina and Graham then doubled their tallies either side of an Ewa Pajor strike, before Esmee Brugts and Fridolina Rolfo completed the rout.
Graham opened the scoring after 10 minutes and Pina struck on 24 minutes, before Putellas was left free in the box to glance in Barca’s third just before the interval.
Leon headed in on 53 minutes as the second-half floodgates opened with four goals coming in the space of 22 minutes.
A 90th-minute penalty by Sweden’s Rolfo meant Barcelona equalled their 9-0 Champions League thumping of Benfica in 2022.
Man City came from behind to beat St. Poelten 3-2 in a topsy-turvy encounter in Vienna thanks to goals from Alanna Kennedy, Aoba Fujino and Mary Fowler.
Kennedy sent City 1-0 up on five minutes with a fierce drive from 35 yards that veered away from the goalkeeper’s lunge on its way into the net via the post.
The hosts struck back as City failed to deal with a corner and Melanie Brunnthaler pounced in the 40th minute.
The Austrians then took a surprise lead eight minutes after half-time when Kamila Dubcova volleyed into the top corner.
But Japanese forward Fujino opened her account for the visitors just four minutes later and then with 10 minutes remaining, Fowler rose highest to head the winner and send City top of Group D on six points.
Goals either side of the break from Linda Dallmann and Pernille Harder earned Bayern Munich a narrow win in north-eastern Italy.
With two wins from two, German champions Bayern sit top of Group C, three points clear of Arsenal in second spot.
“We have started very well, but the work is not done. We’ve played Arsenal and Juventus, two strong teams, but there’s still a long way to go,” said Bayern coach Alexander Straus.
Bayern broke Juventus resistance in the 18th minute when Dallmann managed to hack the ball over the goal-line from close range after it had ricocheted around the box following a corner.
In the second half, Juventus went forward in search of an equalizer with Bayern seeking to stifle the opposition and see out the match.
However, Juve’s defensive set-piece woes allowed the away team to seal victory in the 73rd minute as Harder fired in her fourth goal of the campaign from a corner.
Arsenal got their campaign back on track after losing to Bayern first time out as they beat Valerenga 4-1 at the Emirates Stadium, in their first match since the departure of coach Jonas Eidevall.
Emily Fox gave Arsenal the perfect start after barely 61 seconds when she swept home from inside the six-yard box.
The hosts doubled their lead on 29 minutes through Caitlin Foord, before Olaug Tvedten halved the deficit 10 minutes before half-time but Mariona Caldentey and Alessia Russo struck late to make safe Arsenal’s first win of the campaign.
On Thursday, Wolfsburg host Lyon in a clash of two multiple past winners of the tournament and English champions Chelsea travel to Twente.

RIYADH: Battle of the Giants: Brace For Impact, which will take place on Saturday, is set to enhance Saudi Arabia’s position as a global hub for combat sports, say the CEOs of the Professional Fighters League and Saudi Mixed Martial Arts Federation.

The big fight night at The Mayadeen will be headlined by Francis Ngannou’s PFL debut against 6-foot-8-inch phenomenon Renan “Problema” Ferreira for the heavyweight world title, while MMA legend Cris Cyborg faces hard-hitting Brazilian Larissa Pacheco in the women’s featherweight world title fight.

Saturday’s fight night is the latest of six PFL events in the Kingdom in 2024 so far and reinforces Saudi Arabia’s role as a leading destination for major MMA competitions.

PFL and SMMAF have partnered up to advance the sport across the Kingdom. On Wednesday they held a joint media day in Riyadh to promote both Saturday’s fight and the growth of mixed martial arts in the Kingdom.

Abdullah Al-Hazza, CEO of SMMAF, said: “Hosting major international events and partnering with organizations like PFL not only puts Saudi Arabia on the global MMA map but also brings world-class fighters and competitions to our local audience. And that is very much the case with Battle of the Giants: Brace For Impact on Saturday in Riyadh.

“Partnerships like ours provide Saudi fighters with the opportunity to train and compete against the best in the world, and the exposure and experience gained through these events are invaluable for the development of our athletes. Just ask Hattan Al-Saif, Mostafa Nada, Malik Basahel and Abdullah Al-Qahtani, for example, all of whom have demonstrated their skills and elevated their careers.”

Meanwhile, Pete Murray, CEO of PFL, reiterated the brand’s support for Saudi Arabia’s vision of building a world-class MMA ecosystem of MMA and of being a global leader within it.

“This ties to Vision 2030, with the idea of developing future champions,” he said. “We at PFL pledge to play our role, and this continues Saturday when we couldn’t be prouder to host the biggest MMA event about at The Mayadeen in Riyadh, headlined by world-class fighters in Francis Ngannou and Renan Ferreira.

“Riyadh has become the fight capital of the world, with boxing and now MMA. The region itself is a major demand growth market and the epicenter of that is right here.”

Saudi Arabia has hosted more than 100 global sports events since 2018, with 2.5 million international fans in attendance. The number of sports federations has increased by 200 percent in the last nine years from 32 in 2015 to 97 in 2024. And Saudi people have clearly been inspired — the number of people participating in sports rose from 13 percent in 2015 to 48 percent in 2023.