Jerry Yates’ late strike cancelled out fellow debutant Siriki Dembele’s first-half effort as Swansea drew 1-1 with Birmingham in their Sky Bet Championship opener.
Fresh from his £2million transfer from Bournemouth, Dembele excited throughout – even earning praise on social media from new Blues co-owner Tom Brady, the great NFL quarterback – and netted in the 45th minute after sloppy play from the hosts at the Swansea.com Stadium.
But Liam Cullen squared to former Blackpool forward Yates, who coolly slotted home from close range in the 75th minute to earn Michael Duff’s troops a point in the head coach’s first match as boss.
Both sides showed some early rustiness as the lively Dembele had the only chance of note in the opening stages, although debutant Carl Rushworth – on loan from Brighton – made a routine save to keep out the Ivorian’s low driven strike.
Swansea grew in confidence though, and they gave Blues a fright on 19 minutes when Harry Darling’s deflected strike fell to Jamie Paterson who was unable to square to Yates for a tap-in.
Rushworth was again on hand to dive low to his left to keep out Krystian Bielik’s fierce effort after the Poland international was teed up by Ethan Laird.
Clear-cut openings remained at a premium, although John Eustace will have breathed a sigh of relief when Kevin Long intervened to deny Joel Piroe a chance after Yates showed real endeavour out wide.
The Swans thought they had broken the deadlock just five minutes before the break when Piroe teed up Paterson to curl beyond John Ruddy, although the offside flag was raised.
And it was the away fans who were celebrating on the stroke of half-time as Keshi Anderson pounced on Rushworth’s sloppy pass to Ben Cabango before squaring to Dembele, who rifled home to put Birmingham ahead at the break. The reaction from Brady, since Thursday the chairman of a new advisory board at Birmingham, was to tweet: “Way to finish!!!”
Swansea failed to trouble Ruddy and were fortunate not to go two behind as Anderson played Ivan Sunjic through on goal following a rapid counter, although his meek effort was easily saved.
Having been blunt in attack, Swansea came within a whisker of equalising in the 66th minute as Darling rose to nod Paterson’s corner goalwards, only for his header to rebound off the crossbar.
Duff responded by sending on Cullen and Azeem Abdulai after Jordan James had replaced Roberts for Blues, and the changes reaped rewards for the home side.
Captain Matt Grimes played Cullen through on the left, and the Welshman picked out Yates to beat Ruddy from the edge of the six-yard box.
Piroe and Nathan Wood both had efforts late on, although Rushworth produced a sublime one-handed save to deny Sunjic four minutes from time to ensure the points were shared.
Hurtig the hero after late goal sends Arsenal into Champions League quarters
Lina Hurtig's 89th minute winner ensured Arsenal progressed to the quarter-finals of the Women's Champions League after edging Juventus 1-0 on Thursday.
After being frustrated for large parts of the encounter, Hurtig bundled home from close range after Martina Lenzini's poor clearance to book the Gunners' place in the last eight.
Despite Arsenal dominating the early exchanges, it was Juventus who had the first sight of goal, though Eva Schatzer's effort was easy for Daphne van Domselaar to gather.
In a first half that saw just two shots on target, both coming from the visitors, Renee Slegers' substitutes proved to be the difference for Arsenal.
Slegers introduced Beth Mead, Stina Blackstenius and Hurtig late on, with the latter somehow putting Kim Little's cross over the bar from five yards out.
However, the Swede would atone for her earlier error, combining with fellow substitute Blackstenius to net against her former club and send them out of the competition with two group games remaining.
Meanwhile, in Group D, Barcelona edged closer to the quarter-finals of the competition with a convincing 4-1 victory over St. Polten at the Generali Arena.
The reigning champions are still three points behind Manchester City following their 2-1 win over Hammarby, and know a win against the Swedes next month will see them progress.
Kika Nazareth opened the scoring in the 20th minute after capitalising on a mistake by Kamila Dubcova, notching her second nine minutes later from close range.
Barca found themselves three goals up at the break when Vicky Lopez netted her first goal in the competition to put the result beyond doubt.
There was also a landmark moment for Alexia Putellas, who netted her 200th goal for the club with a well-taken effort into the far corner.
Valentina Madl took some of the shine off an otherwise impressive display from the visitors, who have now taken their tally to 20 goals from their four matches in the competition.
Guardiola agrees two-year contract extension with Man City
Pep Guardiola will be Manchester City manager for at least two more seasons after 2024-25, after he signed a two-year contract extension on Thursday.
The 53-year-old was coming to the end of his City deal, which was due to expire at the end of the current campaign, but he has opted to remain at the Etihad Stadium.
The deal itself will take Guardiola's tenure at the club to over a decade, making him City's longest-serving manager since Les McDowall in 1963.
There had been suggestions that he may leave at the end of the season following the announcement that director of football Txiki Begiristain was on his way out.
Guardiola was strongly linked with the England job after Gareth Southgate resigned in the wake of their Euro 2024 final defeat, but the Football Association appointed Thomas Tuchel last month.
“Manchester City means so much to me," Guardiola said. “This is my ninth season here; we have experienced so many amazing times together. I have a really special feeling for this football club.
“That is why I am so happy to be staying for another two more seasons.
“Thank you to everyone for continuing to trust and support me – The Owner, The Chairman Khaldoon, Ferran, Txiki, the players and, of course, the fans… everyone connected to Manchester City. It has always been an honour, a pleasure and a privilege to be here.
“I have said this many times before, but I have everything a manager could ever wish for, and I appreciate that so much.
“Hopefully, now we can add more trophies to the ones we have already won. That will be my focus.”
Having been appointed in 2016, Guardiola is by some distance Manchester City's most successful manager of all time, having won 18 major trophies during his time at the club.
That list includes their first-ever Champions League triumph in 2023 and six Premier League titles, including an unprecedented four on the spin.
He also boasts a 72.04% win percentage across all competitions, which is unsurprisingly the highest of any full-time City manager in history.
Shaw at the double as Man City progress in Champions League
Khadija Shaw scored twice as Manchester City beat Hammarby 2-1 to seal their place in the Women's Champions League quarter-finals.
Gareth Taylor's team entered Thursday's game with a perfect record in Group D, and their fourth win in as many European matches ensured they finished in the top two.
Shaw—the leading scorer in the Women's Super League this season with eight goals—put them ahead in the 31st minute, driving into the area after taking in Yui Hasegawa's pass before seeing her shot deflect into the top corner.
Shaw was booked for celebrating in front of the home fans despite appearing to have objects thrown at her from the stands, and Hammarby should have levelled when Julia Blakstad fired wide 10 minutes later.
The hosts did draw level three minutes into the second half as Ellen Wangerheim tapped home while City's Laura Blindkilde Brown was down appealing for a free-kick.
That parity was short-lived, though, as Shaw blasted into the top corner from 25 yards out, taking her overall tally for this season to 12 goals in all competitions.
In Group C, meanwhile, Bayern Munich lost their perfect record as they played out a 1-1 draw with Valerenga, boosting Arsenal's hopes of topping the pile.
Jovana Damnjanovic came off the bench to put Bayern ahead 15 minutes from time in Norway, but Elise Thorsnes headed home following an 88th-minute corner to snatch a point for the hosts.
Arsenal could now move within a point of Bayern when they face Juventus in Group C's other match later on Thursday.
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