Manchester City Women finally have a Champions League win. Aoba Fujino scored twice to turn the game around after Elisa Bartoli’s opener, and Kerstin Casparij and Grace Clinton added second-half goals as City won 4-1 at Inter on Tuesday night.
It was a fourth league phase game and a first victory, after draws with Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain. And Andrée Jeglertz did it without his two biggest names from the start: Bunny Shaw and Lauren Hemp were both on the bench, with Saturday’s WSL trip to Chelsea in mind.
Shaw never came on. Hemp did, at half-time, and the game changed with her.
Inter 1-4 Man City Women: how it happened
For 24 minutes it looked like the same old European story. Inter, who came in having won all seven competitive home games this season and without conceding a goal in domestic football, went ahead when two of their defenders combined: Ivana Andrés crossed and the 35-year-old Bartoli glanced a header past Yamashita into the bottom corner.
City had already wasted one good chance, when Clinton slipped Fujino in early on and her shot was too close to Cecilia Runarsdottir. Fujino made no mistake the second time. On 33 minutes Laura Blindkilde Brown played a defence-splitting ball through, and Fujino slotted it past Runarsdottir.
Just before the break she had her second. Iman Beney surged past Andrés into the area and cut the ball back for Fowler, whose shot was saved at point-blank range, and Fujino was there to tap in the rebound. City went in 2-1 up, and deservedly so.
Hemp and the captain take over
Fujino’s night ended at half-time, with Hemp and Rebecca Knaak replacing her and Jade Rose. Yamashita still had to dive to tip a Bugeja shot round the post early in the second half, but from then on City were much quicker moving the ball forward, with Hemp and Beney stretching Inter on both wings.
The third goal came from the captain. Casparij stopped the ball dead in a crowded box and, from around 14 yards, placed it past Runarsdottir with her second touch. Fowler then had two more close-range efforts saved as City pushed for a fourth.
It arrived on 70 minutes, and Hemp made it. She twisted inside and out against a tiring Bartoli, dug out a cross to the back post, and Clinton stretched to get a toe on it for a goal Runarsdottir could not keep out at her near post. Yamashita tipped away a late Cambiaghi flick to keep the margin at three.
Why the win matters for City
Only the top four in the 18-team league phase go straight into the quarter-finals, with fifth to twelfth heading into the play-offs. Three draws had left City needing to turn their WSL form into European points, and a three-goal win away from home does that, with a healthy goal difference boost too.
Hemp had said as much on Monday. “It’s massive, being part of the Champions League and winning it is one of my aims, and it has been since I joined this club,” she said. “There’s always still more to come from this City team but I’m proud of the performances we’ve put in so far in the Champions League.”
Is Bunny Shaw the world’s best?
City’s rested striker had good news of her own on Tuesday. Shaw is on the five-player shortlist for the BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year 2026, alongside Temwa Chawinga, Ewa Pajor, Alexia Putellas and Alessia Russo.
The award covers September 2025 to August 2026, a spell in which Shaw scored 21 goals in 22 WSL games, won a third straight Golden Boot and was named WSL Player of the Season as City ended a 10-year wait for the title. She also scored the opener in the FA Cup final win over Brighton to complete the Double, finishing on 26 goals in all competitions, and became the first player in the history of City’s professional women’s team to reach 100 goals. Fans can vote until 09:00 GMT on Wednesday 18 November, and the winner will be announced at Sports Personality of the Year on Sunday 13 December.
Verdict: the right night to leave Shaw on the bench
Jeglertz gambled on rotation and it paid off. Fujino took her chance, Casparij led from the back, and Hemp only needed 25 minutes to settle it, which is exactly what a manager wants before a game this big.
Shaw, fresh from her perfect hat-trick against West Ham, did not play a single minute. That leaves City’s best player rested and City’s confidence high for Saturday lunchtime at Stamford Bridge, against a Chelsea side who were held 0-0 by Häcken on Tuesday. After three European draws, this felt like the night City’s season clicked into place.
