Italian women’s football is continuing to reach new heights after the first set of fixtures in the 2022/23 UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage.
Both of Serie A Femminile’s representatives, Juventus Women and AS Roma Women, got victories to get their campaigns underway.
Whilst Juventus were in the tournament last season and got to the quarter-finals, this was Roma’s first-ever UWCL group-stage match.
AS Roma get the better of Slavia Prague
The Giallorosse had to overcome Sparta Prague to get to the tournament proper in the first place, and now they have conquered another team from Prague.
It was a huge night at the Stadio Tre Fontane for the club and whilst it was, on the whole, a very tight game, they managed to get all three points thanks to a goal on the hour mark.
Emilie Haavi was released down the right and she lofted the ball over the goalkeeper and as it bounced towards the bottom corner, it was bundled in by a mixture of Slavia defenders and Valentina Giacinti. Somewhat unfortunately for Haavi, the goal was handed to Giacinti officially.
Roma won’t care though. They held on to win 1-0 and are off the mark in Group B already. The other game in the group saw Wolfsburg get a 4-0 win over SKN St. Poelten.
Success in Switzerland for Juventus
Juventus travelled to face FC Zurich the night before Roma’s clash and in the first half, they had to soak up a fair amount of pressure from the Swiss side.
In the second half though, Juventus were much more dominant and after some good chances, they got the lead with 20 minutes to go.
There was panic in the box after multiple players tried to get on the end of a cross. Cristiana Girelli then calmly laid the ball to the edge where Valentina Cernoia was waiting to hit a low shot through the bodies. Her celebration showed how much the goal meant to her and the team.
The clinching goal came in the 84th minute and was extremely similar to the first. Julia Grosso did extremely well to get into the box and play the ball across. Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir managed to then lay it back to Arianna Caruso. Her shot was blocked and rebounded straight to Barbara Bonansea who continued her superb return to fitness by hitting a deflected shot into the top corner.
The game ended 2-0 and now Juventus must get ready for the step up to face Olympique Lyonnais who were beaten 5-1 by Arsenal.
