London City Lionesses launched their revamped chapter in women’s football with a confident 2-1 victory over Manchester United at Hayes Lane, marking the beginning of what promises to be an exciting era under new ownership.<\/p>\n
The match, which drew a sell-out crowd, featured several high-profile signings including two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas, who made her debut for the club. Despite the star power on display, the opening goal came through unintentional brilliance when Julia Zigiotti deflected a header into her own net following a challenge with Alanna Kennedy in the penalty area.<\/p>\n
London City maintained control throughout the first half and extended their lead in the 82nd minute when Netherlands international Danielle van de Donk produced a spectacular flick to double the hosts’ advantage. The goal effectively sealed the three points with just minutes remaining.<\/p>\n
Manchester United pulled one back late in stoppage time through substitute Simi Awujo, but the consolation goal highlighted the gap in quality between the two sides. It was United’s only shot on target all match.<\/p>\n
New signings Rosa Kafaji, Mapi Leon, Putellas and Janni Thomsen all featured and impressed, while goalkeeper Mary Earps and forward Kadidiatou Diani remained on the bench. Owner Michele Kang watched from the stands as the club started their campaign with a perfect result.<\/p>\n
London City manager Eder Maestre praised his team’s dominant performance. “Starting with a win is very important to keep building confidence,” Maestre said. “I think we were very dominant through the whole game and we deserved this win. That’s the identity we want – that’s why I’m very proud of the team.”<\/p>\n
The victory sets an ambitious tone for London City’s first season in the Women’s Super League, with Maestre adding: “I think we are one step closer to hitting the targets. I’m very excited and very happy.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
London City Lionesses won their season opener 2-1 against Manchester United with goals from an own goal and Danielle van de Donk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1382,318,660,1381,627,658],"class_list":["post-642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-alexia-putellas","tag-football","tag-london-city-lionesses","tag-manchester-united-women","tag-sports","tag-wsl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yovao.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}