UWCL Power Rankings: Barcelona, ​​Lyon remind everyone who they are; Arsenal underwhelming

Crolin announced her Champions League arrival with sparkle, flair and finish. The defending champions look ready to return to the finals.

An absolute goal clinic for the French champions against a lower ranked team. Melchi Dumonnet remains the frontrunner for the Ballon d’Or, while Marie Garten is as cool as ever in front of goal.

Bayern Munich remain the dark horses, but if they can’t control the lead then their pedigree will lose its shine. Thankfully, they operate like a well-oiled counterattacking machine.

The WSL champions almost had a disastrous start to the tournament, but their squad is too deep to rule out. Excellent performances from Fujino Aoba and Yui Hasegawa turned the tide in time.

Lucy Bronze’s return can’t come soon enough for this Blues team. Still, now that the club has managed to knock off the rookies, head coach Sonya Bompast can look forward to bigger fish.

The Gunners won, but at what cost? A late penalty conversion gave them all the points but didn’t take away from a completely disjointed first-round performance.

Questions about the departure of former coach Filipa Patao were answered when Ivan Baptista took over the club and won the league again. After an upset under Marit Lund, there was even less doubt about the team’s ability to secure a spot in the UWCL.

If Inter Milan is this year’s Cinderella story, then we all need to put on our best party slippers. Going up against someone with more experience is nothing to sneer at, and if Brittany Raffino continues to make an impact in her limited time, watch out.

There’s a reason Linda Caicedo remains the face of the club, and while she captains the team, others need to step up. The acquisition of Felicia Schröder has paid off with early goals, but promising numbers alone won’t win the Champions League.

Paris Saint-Germain may be far removed from their UWCL glory days, but they’re still looking for a way back. An early loss was smoothed over thanks to Sakina Karchaoui, but it wasn’t enough to show they were back in the game as a contender.

The addition of Evelyn Vines has already shown significant value after the Canada international scored against Barcelona. Despite this, they are currently a dark horse with a level gap.

In the week ahead, Roma will show why they belong in the Champions League. Until that week comes, their ranking will remain low.

Hopefully the Belgian side can improve on their exciting debut last season. Despite Jada Koenigberg’s best efforts in front of goal, it looks like we’ll have to wait and see.

The Danish side dropped points in the final minutes against the contenders but showed enough determination and overall discipline to keep the remainder of the league interesting. A team to be taken seriously.

Of course, it’s only one game, but Juventus’ delayed reaction in the first game didn’t go over well, but if Alba Redondo and Amaiur Sarigi can combine quicker in the game, they will climb back up the rankings.

The debutants made a valiant effort to make the game difficult against a more experienced side. If they want to move up the rankings, they need to find their end.

Sweden have played the role of plucky underdogs, but recent performances have left them looking like they need to regroup. Now they need to fix that without starting goalie Jennifer Falk after the red card.

Sometimes winning is about showing up and working hard. Facing Lyon at the start of the game was a tough ask, but now the focus is on how the team responds.