Football
Sophie Lawson and Sam Marsden 1y

Barcelona run away from Bayern Munich in Women's Champions League

Barcelona edged one step closer to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Women's Champions League as they beat Bayern Munich 3-0 at Camp Nou Thursday.

Second-half goals from Geyse, Aitana Bonmati and Claudia Pina made it three wins from three for Barca in Group D and, at the same time, inflicted a first defeat on Bayern in this season's competition.

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Barca are still missing some of their best players through injury, including long-term absentees Alexia Putellas and Caroline Graham-Hansen, but they made light work of their German opposition in front of a crowd of 46,967.

It was the fourth-highest attendance in the history of the Women's Champions League -- the top two both came at Camp Nou last season -- and the biggest ever in the group stage.

The supporters were made to wait, though, with Bayern defending well in the first half. Barca had all the possession but of their 13 shots, few really worked goalkeeper Maria-Luisa Grohs.

That changed two minutes into the second half when Geyse stopped at the far post to head in Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic's pull-back after good work from Fridolina Rolfo, who turned 29 on Thursday.

Rolfo then set up Bonmati to turn home the second brilliantly and Pina completed the scoring with a superb strike from 25 yards as Barca made it 12 wins from 12 games in all competitions this season.

In Thursday's other early kickoff, stuttering Lyon turned in a dominant 3-0 win against Zurich that brought them right back into contention in Group C.

Lyon took the lead through Melvine Malard's close range header in the fourth minute and the eight-time champions flexed their muscles to give their dismal goal difference a much-needed boost. They struck again 10 minutes before the break when, having overloaded the home defence, Signe Bruun was left free to slot the ball home.

The two goalscorers combined after the hour to add the last of the night with Bruun narrowly keeping herself onside in the middle of the box to receive Malard's header and knock it beyond Seraina Friedli.

Yet with 27 total attempts on goal, the French champions could well have improved their standing in the group by pushing their goal difference from negative to positive.

Elsewhere in the group, Juventus made an injury-hit Arsenal pay for missing their better chances in the first half in a Group C match that finished 1-1.

Juventus came out of the break looking sharp and Cristiana Girelli's through ball allowed Lineth Beerensteyn to fire up her afterburners and chase the zippy pass down through the Arsenal defence before easing it into the waiting net.

Vivianne Miedema restored parity for Arsenal after the hour when she nodded Frida Maanum's whipped corner into the home goal and set up a grandstand last 30 minutes.

But with the game hanging in the balance, neither side could find a second goal, the draw keeping Arsenal atop the group on seven points, with Juventus in second on five and Lyon in third with four.

Benfica finally got their campaign up and running with a controlled win at home to Swedish champions Rosengard in the day's other Group D match.

In a creative mood all night in Lisbon, the hosts could only manage one goal which came halfway through the first half when Cloe Lacasse dribbled through the visiting defence and, following a fortuitous deflection back into her path, curled the ball around Teagan Micah.

Much like Lyon against Zurich, Benfica arguably should have made more of their chances to rubberstamp their victory, but with Rosengard unable to get the better of Rute Costa, the one goal was all the Portuguese champions needed.

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