Shaw makes debut in Man City’s 1-1 draw with Real
National striker Khadija Shaw made her club debut for Manchester City on Tuesday as they drew 1-1 with Real Madrid in their Champions League second round first-leg match at the Estadio Alfredo di Stefano in Madrid, Spain.
Caroline Weir gave City the lead two minutes into the second half before a late equaliser by Kenti Robles ensured that the tie will be delicately poised going into the second-leg in Manchester.
Shaw played 71 minutes of her first competitive game for Manchester City since joining the club in June after two years in France with Bordeaux. Shaw went close to scoring on her club debut in the first half when Esme Morgan’s near-post cross managed to find her but she could not make clean contact with the ball.
Shaw almost put Man City in trouble during the half as the referee awarded Real Madrid a penalty after adjudging that she upended Ivana Andres Sanz in the penalty area.
Real Madrid’s striker Esther Gonzalez who had multiple opportunities to put her team ahead sent her spot kick over the bar. City goalkeeper Karima Taieb had a strong night in goal, denying Gonzalez in the first half as well as Nahikari Garcia in the second half. However, Robles managed to score in second half stoppage time to level the game. City head coach Gareth Taylor said that while he expected the fixture to be difficult, he was unhappy with the errors which got Real Madrid back into the contest.
“A bit disappointed with the goal that late on but it’s a tough fixture, especially where we were in our preseason. Second half we improved a lot, tweaked a couple of positions but I’d have to say a draw is a fair result,” Taylor said after the game. “If we came away with a 1-0 (win) we wouldn’t have kidded ourselves that there was still work to do - just disappointed with a late goal.”
Man City face Real Madrid in the return leg on September 8 with the winner advancing to the group stage of the competition. Shaw could make her league debut this Saturday when her club travels to Everton for their 2021-22 FA Women’s Super League season opener.