Paris: Manchester City’s hopes of reaching the UEFA Women’s Champions League quarterfinals were left on a knife-edge Wednesday when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their last 16 clash.
City were 1-0 up through Canadian international Janine Beckie after 13 minutes but the Spanish visitors hit back nine minutes from the final whistle through Charlyn Corral.
Atletico, who knocked City out of last year’s tournament, boasted England’s Toni Duggan in their line-up. Duggan had an early chance against her former team but blasted the ball over the crossbar.
Arsenal are well-placed to make the last eight after coming back from Slavia Prague with a 5-2 win.
Dutch international Vivianne Miedema scored four of the north Londoners’ goals with three coming in a 15-minute period in the first half.
Lyon, champions in the last four seasons, also virtually made sure of their place in the quarter-finals with a 4-0 rout of Fortuna Hjorring in Denmark.
Norwegian star Ada Hegerberg opened the scoring after 17 minutes from the penalty spot.
It was her 50th goal in her 49th match in the Champions League. Her 51st arrived in the second half, sandwiching a double strike from Eugenie le Sommer.
Fellow French side PSG eased past Breidablik of Iceland 4-0. Karina Saevik, Brazilian star Formiga and Marie-Antoinette Katoto were all on target in the first half-hour.
Poland’s Paulina Dudek added the fourth in stoppage time.
