BOREHAMWOOD — Mariona Caldentey's stoppage-time penalty secured Arsenal a dramatic 1-0 win over Danish side HB Køge at Meadow Park to open their Women's Champions League campaign on Tuesday, while Manchester City fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 away at Bayern Munich on their European return.
Arsenal boss Renee Slegers made eight changes from Sunday's 1-1 Women's Super League draw with Manchester United and saw Chloe Kelly have a 12th-minute opener disallowed after a VAR check. Greek referee Eleni Antoniou was called to the monitor after Kelly beat Alberte Vingum, but the goal was chalked off for offside against Stina Blackstenius in the build-up. The winner finally arrived in the third of four minutes of stoppage time when Yukina Sakabe brought down Selina Cerci and substitute Caldentey buried the penalty into the bottom corner past Vingum.
The Gunners had lacked end product despite long spells in the visitors' half. Frida Maanum drew a save in the 25th minute and later sent a cross-shot wide and an effort over the bar, while Kyra Cooney-Cross also drifted wide. After the break Blackstenius was replaced by Alessia Russo, Smilla Holmberg saw a free-kick punched away by Vingum and later struck the crossbar directly from a corner, and Holmberg also produced an alert clearance after Emelia Oskarsdottir's cross fell loose.
In Munich, Manchester City became the first English side to avoid defeat to Bayern in Europe after overturning a two-goal deficit. Giulia Gwinn opened the scoring in the 11th minute, lifting the ball over Ayaka Yamashita after Linda Dallmann drove unchallenged from halfway, and Kerstin Casparij's attempted clearance from a Pernille Harder cross diverted into her own net to make it 2-0 inside the first half-hour. Klara Buhl and Harder went close to extending the lead, while Lauren Hemp clipped the crossbar for City. On the stroke of half-time, Casparij broke down the right and Beth Mead tapped in despite a flare thrown onto the pitch as the attack developed, with the goal allowed to stand. After the interval Ena Mahmutovic brought down Aoba Fujino in the box, but Khadija "Bunny" Shaw — who had been due to be substituted — missed the penalty and was immediately replaced. Germany international Carlotta Wamser, left completely unmarked in the penalty area, scored her first City goal in the 86th minute to level at 2-2.
Man City midfielder Sam Coffey told the club's official website: "Beth's goal changed momentum going into half-time. We connected better and were more front-footed in the second half. So it was huge to take that into half-time and continue to turn the game around. We wanted to win the game, so we're disappointed we didn't do that, but to come away from a really tough place with a draw is something we should be proud of." On the substitutes, Coffey added: "It's one of the best parts of our team of how deep we are. We have so many gamechangers and whoever comes into the game is going to have an impact on it. That's what the best teams in the world need and want, and I think we have that to the nth degree."