Sports Mole previews Wednesday’s Women’s Champions League clash between Barcelona Women and Hammarby Women, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Reigning European Barcelona Women will look to claim their first win of the 2024-25 Women’s Champions League when they play host to Hammarby Women on Wednesday.
The Catalan giants lost out to Manchester City in their opener, while Hammarby got the better of Austrian side St Polten.
Match preview
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Barcelona’s bid to win a third consecutive Women’s Champions League trophy got off to a rocky start in last week’s trip to Manchester.
Man City’s Naomi Layzell and Khadija Shaw grabbed a goal apiece to condemn Barcelona to a 2-0 defeat in Pere Romeu‘s first European match as manager.
The result also represented Barcelona’s first competitive defeat since losing 1-0 in April’s home clash with Chelsea in the Women’s Champions League semi-final first leg.
The Liga F champions produced a positive response in Sunday’s derby against Espanyol as they came from behind to cruise to a dominant 7-1 win thanks to an Ewa Pajor hat-trick, an Alexia Putellas brace, a Claudia Pina effort and an Aitana Bonmati strike.
Having racked up 32 goals across six league victories, Barcelona will look to showcase that impressive firepower in their first European meeting with Hammarby.
The hosts will certainly take confidence from the fact they have won each of their previous nine home matches in the Women’s Champions League group stage.
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Hammarby are competing in their first-ever Women’s Champions League campaign after winning the Damallsvenskan title last season.
The Swedish side have already created memories in the early stages of their European journey, including an unforgettable turnaround in their qualifying tie against Benfica.
After losing 2-1 in the home leg, Hammarby showed great character to record a 2-0 win in the away leg to secure their place in the main draw.
They repeated that scoreline in their group opener against St Polten, with Vilde Hasund and Cathinka Tandberg grabbing a goal apiece to fire their side to a memorable home win.
Hasund went on to net a brace in Saturday’s 6-0 league win over Vittsjo, ensuring Hammarby will take a five-game unbeaten run into Wednesday’s European outing (W4, D1).
Having kept a clean sheet in each of those five matches, the visitors may feel they have the defensive qualities to frustrate a Barcelona side filled with an array of attacking talent.
Barcelona Women Women’s Champions League form:
Barcelona Women form (all competitions):
Hammarby Women Women’s Champions League form:
Hammarby Women form (all competitions):
Team News
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Barcelona’s Salma Paralluelo remains unavailable for selection, having been forced to miss the first seven matches of the season through injury.
After making changes at the weekend, Romeu is set to recall Ona Batlle, Ingrid Engen, Caroline Graham Hansen and Putellas.
Pajor will also come back into the starting lineup, with the striker looking to add to the nine goals she has scored this season.
As for Hammarby, they are expected to be without the services of Klara Folkesson, Anna Josendal and Lotta Okvist.
After making several changes at the weekend, Martin Sjogren is set to recall Stina Lennartsson, Alice Carlsson, Joanna Andersson and Emilie Joramo.
Tandberg is set to be given the responsibility of leading the line after scoring 10 goals in 12 appearances since arriving from Linkopping in the summer.
Barcelona Women possible starting lineup:
Coll; Batlle, Engen, Leon, Rolfo; Bonmati, Walsh, Putellas; Graham Hansen, Pina, Pajor
Hammarby Women possible starting lineup:
Tamminen; Lennartsson, Nystrom, Carlsson, Andersson; Miyagawa, Joramo; Hasund, Vallotto, Blakstad; Tandberg
We say: Barcelona Women 3-0 Hammarby Women
Barcelona may have experienced disappointment on matchday one, but we expect them to showcase their wealth of world-class talent to claim a comfortable victory over Hammarby, especially as they have won their previous nine home group games by a combined 45-1 scoreline.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.