FC Barcelona is defending its title in the Women's Champions League, but in the first match, they lost 0-2 to Manchester City. The Catalan players had a poor game, while their opponents were effective both in attack and defense. Ewa Pajor played the full 90 minutes, but like her teammates, she has little reason to be satisfied.
The Polish striker missed a great opportunity in the first half when she tackled the ball away from the opposing goalkeeper. "She found herself with the ball in front of an open goal. She took a shot, but Alexandri Lopez heroically cleared it off the line," wrote Agnieszka Piskorz from Sport.pl about the situation.
Spaniards wrote this about Ewa Pajor: "Robert Lewandowski Syndrome"
Despite missing a great chance and the 0-2 loss, the Spanish media are not quick to criticize Pajor. Instead, they focused more on her teammates, who, throughout the 90 minutes, were unable to provide her with accurate passes.
"She had a few opportunities at the start, but gradually faded," wrote Sport, which rated her performance a five on a scale of 1 to 10, calling her "sporadic." "She needs the ball, but today she struggled and ended with just one shot on target," they summarized her performance.
Similarly, Mundo Deportivo described the 27-year-old's performance as "wasted." They further compared her to her male counterpart in Barcelona’s men's team, and in this case, the comparison wasn't positive. "The Pole suffered from Robert Lewandowski’s syndrome from last year—she barely had any balls to finish," was their brief assessment.
AS wrote that "City humanized Barcelona," but there was hardly any mention of Pajor. "Her shot hit between the posts," was the only sentence about the Polish player in the match summary.
Ewa Pajor and her FC Barcelona will have a chance to improve their mood on Sunday, October 13, in the derby match against Espanyol. For now, Pajor's team is in first place in the Primera Division with 15 points, tied with Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid.
