By Victor Kanayo
Nigeria’s Asisat Oshoala scored a brace while also providing two assists for Barcelona Femini in a 9-0 humiliating win over Benfica in their opening game of the UEFA Women’s Champions League on Wednesday night at the Johan Cruyff Stadium.
The win sees the Spanish side go top of Group D ahead of Bayern Munich Women who beat FC Rosengaard Women 2-1 in the other group fixture in Germany.
Oshoala who put up a Woman of The Match performance wasted no time as she provided Guijarro Gutiérrez with the assist for the first goal in the opening minute of the encounter, as she also assisted Bonmati Conca for the second goal in the 14th minute, before registering her name on the score sheet in the 34th minute to give her side a 3-0 advantage heading into the halftime break.
The Spanish giants came back stronger in the second half, scoring six goals.
Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic made it 4-0 in the 65th minute while substitute Geyse grabbed a brace in the 67th and 88th minutes.
Claudia Pina was also on the score sheet while Oshoala completed her brace in the 84th minute.
Barcelona who lost the final of the 2021/22 season to Lyon will be one of the teams to beat in this year’s competition.
This is Barca’s biggest win in the competition, topping their previous record of 6-0 win over Montpellier on August 23.
