Alexia Putellas begins WSL ride as London City outclass Manchester United

There are few scenarios since Millwall Lionesses broke away from Millwall and became London City Lionesses that would have felt more surreal than the idea of Alexia Putellas captaining the side to a statement win in a Women’s Super League season opener in Bromley just seven years later.Here we are though. Referees have to get used to the former Barcelona captain stooping to pick up the coin after the toss, as is her custom. Players must get used to eyes and cameras looking past them to focus on the influential No 11, and the two-time Ballon d’Or winner has to get used to playing with players not drilled in a very specific style of play from such an early age.Of course it’s a step down to go from the four-time European champions to a team embarking on their second season in the WSL, but off the pitch, with owner Michele Kang’s commitment to giving female athletes the best of everything, the difference will be more negligible, even before the approved new world-class training facility is built.Bromley may be about as far from the colossus of a stadium that is the Camp Nou as is possible, but the 5,402 sell-out was far closer to the average attendance of 6,168 that the European champions commanded across the course of last season, with most of their games played at the more modest Johan Cruyff stadium.Putellas led the team out to a heroes welcome at the sold-out home of Bromley FC, her steely stare only broken to crack a quick smile and share some words with the mascot gripping her hand.Alexia Putellas leaps for a header on her WSL debut. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianThe last club game Putellas played was in the blazing sun in Copenhagen as Barcelona outplayed Lyon to secure a fourth Champions League title. In this corner of the outskirts of London, the midfielder experienced her first proper taste of her new reality and we got our first proper taste of ours. At 32 and with her very best years likely behind her, it is still an utter joy to have the magical player in the WSL. It was a solid rather than showstopper performance, Putellas outshone by teammates such as Rosa Kafaji and Lucía Corrales, who was unfortunately taken off late on after overstretching for the ball.It is the ‘Putellas pull’ that demanded this fixture between the heavily invested-in side and the barely backed Manchester United be broadcast live on Sky Sports to open the WSL season.Regardless of what you think of her movements in women’s football, Kang – who walked the perimeter of the stadium prior to kick-off taking photos with fans in her ‘Kang 27’ emblazoned home shirt – is the antithesis to Jim Ratcliffe, whose dismal references to his women’s team contrast sharply with the woman who is ideologically invested in giving female athletes the best of every thing because it is the right thing to do.In the first half, Kang’s charges were a reflection of what that commitment can do to players. London City were on the front foot from the off, with Corrales forcing a save from Phallon Tullis-Joyce inside four minutes. Eder Maestre, tasked with gelling a squad stacked with new players, including former England goalkeeper Mary Earps, who was named on the bench for the opening fixture and is understood to be nursing an injury picked up in pre-season, had said the identity he wants to create for the side is “related to all those things we felt when we were playing football as children”.Michele Kang, the owner of London City Lionesses, meets a supporter before kick-off. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The GuardianThat ethos was evident in their play, despite not always being pretty. They pressed and attacked aggressively, and that they broke the deadlock was not surprising.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe goal came in the ninth minute, when Alanna Kennedy rose above a sort-of hunkered down Julia Zigiotti Olme to meet Janni Thomsen’s corner, only for the Swedish midfielder to turn the ball into her own net.They kept the momentum after the goal and, but for the heroics of Tullis-Joyce, could have been ahead by a much greater margin, with two saves by the US international from Kennedy and Kafaji shortly before the hour mark keeping the visiting team in the game.It was a somewhat cruel introduction to life in the WSL, and spotlight, for the new Manchester United manager, Eva Olid, particularly with Chelsea then Arsenal up next, but on this showing and after a lacklustre summer transfer window few games would have offered a kind introduction. United were outclassed, conceding more than 60% possession and not registering a shot on target.By the time they had registered three shots any hopes of a leveller were crushed by the home side, when Mapi León’s corner was worked towards Delphine Cascarino and the French forward’s cross was flicked into the far corner by Daniëlle van de Donk.There was a late consolation for Olid’s humbled charges deep into added time, when Simi Awujo powered in the loose ball after a free-kick was cleared into empty space, but it could not dampen the enthusiasm of an emphatic display from Maestre’s side. If this performance was the foundation they will build upon, it was a pretty solid one.