The first legs of the UEFA Women’s Champions League Round of 16 got underway on Wednesday and they included one match with a distinctly American feel to it. We’ll start there:
Göteborg 1-1 Fortuna
Göteborg salvaged a draw thanks to Yael Averbuch’s 72nd minute equalizer. Averbuch was one of six Americans (combined) in the starting line-ups of these two teams. Tiffany Weimer and Casey Ramirez (Syracuse ’12 graduate) started for Fortuna, while Averbuch, Christen Press, Ingrid Wells (Georgetown) and Camille Levin (Stanford) lined-up for Göteborg, which also features English defender and ex-WPS star Anita Asante.
Malmö 1-0 Verona
German Anja Mittag scored in the second minute to lift Swedish club Malmö (also home to Ramona Bachmann!) to a 1-0 aggregate lead. Stanford grad and 2010 WPS rookie of the year outside back Ali Riley checked into the game in the 75th minute for Malmö.
Lyon 9-0 Zorkiy
The score pretty much speaks for itself. Louisa Necib led the way for Lyon with a hat trick. And this leg was Zorkiy’s home game in Russia. Ouch.
Torres 4-1 Olimpia Cluj
Patrizia Panico, a legendary Italian goal-scorer but unfortunately best known in the U.S. for breaking Leslie Osborne’s collarbone during the 2010 WPS season, scored a hat trick to lift Torres to a comfortable lead in the first leg.
Stabæk 0-0 Juvisy
Juvisy, the club of French internationals Sandrine Soubeyrand and Gaëtane Thiney, drew 0-0 with Stabæk on the first leg in Norway.
