![\"Melchie](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/a1aca47d044dbd9897c68a49f2c03007.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nArsenal paid a heavy price for individual errors as their defence of the Women\u2019s Champions League began with defeat to Lyon.<\/p>\n
WSL rivals Chelsea and Manchester United will hope to fare better when their European campaigns kick off on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n
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Manchester City and England defender John Stones revealed he considered retiring amid last season\u2019s injury nightmare, while Spain and Barcelona great Jordi Alba has decided to hang up his boots.<\/p>\n
Error-strewn Arsenal lose to Lyon<\/p>\n
Melchie Dumornay celebrates her second goal against Arsenal (John Walton\/PA)<\/p>\n
Melchie Dumornay punished a pair of mistakes to earn Lyon a 2-1 comeback win over Champions League holders Arsenal.<\/p>\n
The Gunners, who defeated their French visitors at the semi-final stage last season, made a bright start and led thanks to Alessia Russo\u2019s seventh-minute strike.<\/p>\n
But Dumornay levelled 11 minutes later, finishing on the rebound after intercepting a scuffed pass from Arsenal goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar.<\/p>\n
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Lyon\u2019s Haiti international lashed home to complete the turnaround in the 23rd minute after Van Domselaar, Mariona Caldente and Katie Reid were each culpable of putting the hosts under pressure.<\/p>\n
Man Utd boss Skinner calls for maturity<\/p>\n
Manchester United boss Marc Skinner urged his players to display maturity during their maiden Women\u2019s Champions League campaign.<\/p>\n
United will play in the main phase for the first time and begin with Wednesday\u2019s home match against Norwegian club Valerenga.<\/p>\n
Skinner\u2019s side have enjoyed an unbeaten start in this season\u2019s WSL.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we can be mature, show a mature performance and play the way we have been, I don\u2019t think people will want to come and play us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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John Stones: I considered retiring![\"England](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/5c6f810cba98af00f05505df048d175d.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
John Stones was decimated by foot and hamstring injuries last season (Martin Rickett\/PA)<\/p>\n
Manchester City and England defender John Stones revealed he considered calling time on his career last season.<\/p>\n
The 31-year-old\u2019s 2024-25 campaign was decimated by foot and hamstring injuries, which saw him make just 24 appearances for club and country and none after February.<\/p>\n
He is back fit and looks set to make his first appearance under England boss Thomas Tuchel in the upcoming games against Wales and Latvia.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast season was tough for me, to the point where I thought about stopping,\u201d Stones told BBC Radio 5 Live. \u201cIt was a very difficult place to be in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jordi Alba: I am retiring<\/p>\n
Inter Miami\u2019s former Barcelona and Spain defender Jordi Alba announced he will retire at the end of the Major League Soccer season.<\/p>\n
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The 36-year-old made 459 appearances for Barca between 2012 and 2023, winning six LaLiga titles and the 2015 Champions League.<\/p>\n
He was capped 93 times at international level and part of the Spain squad which won Euro 2012, in addition to captaining his country to Nations League glory in 2023.<\/p>\n
Alba, who is preparing for the MLS play-offs, said: \u201cI feel it\u2019s the right moment to begin a new personal chapter and fully enjoy time with my family after so many demanding years in professional football.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s on today<\/p>\n
Manchester United begin their maiden Women\u2019s Champions League campaign against Valerenga, while Chelsea play away to Dutch club Twente.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Arsenal paid a heavy price for individual errors as their defence of the Women\u2019s Champions League began with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[28111,4026,16255,1998,4488,4027,28116,444,44826,85,46,44823,44824,15025,2617,3157,44825,35245,2727,105,9523],"class_list":["post-60667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alessia-russo","tag-arsenal","tag-barca","tag-barcelona","tag-champions-league","tag-chelsea","tag-daphne-van-domselaar","tag-england","tag-haiti","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-john-stones","tag-jordi-alba","tag-major-league-soccer","tag-manchester-city","tag-manchester-united","tag-melchie-dumornay","tag-miami","tag-spain","tag-sports","tag-wales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}