Kristian Mørch, coach of American-owned Danish club HB Køge, said he found “a little light in the darkness” after his team fell, 8-0, to defending champion Barcelona in front of 6,000 sellout crowd at Capelli Sport Stadion. Five American players saw action for HB Køge.
“We faced a fantastic soccer team that played fantastic soccer,” Mørch said. “We had a really good first half in many respects. Then, in the second half, we were a small team that had a really difficult time, and it became difficult for us to defend.
“I find a little light in the darkness in the fact that we created a couple of scoring chances today, which were really, really big chances for us. That’s something I’ll try to take forward, something we can certainly build on. And we can defend with more quality individually.”
Barcelona took a 12th-minute lead on Caroline Graham Hansen‘s penalty kick and went into halftime with a 2-0 lead from Ewa Pajor‘s 33rd-minute goal. Esmee Brugts, Patri Guijarro, Clara Serrajordi, Kika Nazareth and Clàudia Pina, who scored twice.
Pajor finished second in the 2026 Ballon d’Or voting to former teammate Alexia Putellas. Four of Barcelona’s other scorers also finished in the Top 20: Guijarro (5th), Graham Hansen (6th), Pina (8th) and Brugts (17th).
“This is the best soccer team in the world we played against, and we managed more chances than many other teams have managed to create against them. So I’m not disappointed that we didn’t create more. I’m disappointed that we conceded eight goals.
“We also played with a lot of really, really young players in today’s game, who have gained some valuable experience and also had a reality check. We can use that. We had a stadium with 6,000 people, a full stadium here today, which is fantastic support for women’s soccer and the work that’s being done.”
In May 2025, Angie and Chris Long, the majority owners of the NWSL’s Kansas City Current, purchased HB Køge’s women’s club from fellow American George Altirs. The founder of Capelli Sport, Altirs took ownership of HB Køge in 2019 and retains control of the men’s club.
HB Køge opened Champions League play with a 1-0 loss at Arsenal and 5-1 win vs. Servette. It’s now in 11th-place of the 18-team standings. After the six-game per team league phase, finishers 13-18 are eliminated, finishers 5-12 earn a playoff, and 1-4 move straight into the quarterfinals. HB Køge’s next three games are at OH Leuven (Nov. 11), at Paris FC (Nov. 19) and vs. Benfica (Dec. 16).
Americans in UEFA Women’s Champions League
Matchday 3
Thursday:
Tabitha Tindell (Häcken FF) 90 minutes (1-1 at Paris FC)
Delaney Matriano (Häcken FF) 45 minutes (1-1 at Paris FC)
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Emma Flick (HB Køge) 90 minutes (0-8 vs. Barcelona)
Macy Schultz (HB Køge) 90 minutes (0-8 vs. Barcelona)
*Kyra Carusa (HB Køge) 63 minutes (0-8 vs. Barcelona)
Catherine Paulson (HB Køge) sub-27 minutes (0-8 vs. Barcelona)
Sydney Jones (HB Køge) sub-27 minutes (0-8 vs. Barcelona)
Lauren Kozal (HB Køge) on bench (0-8 vs. Barcelona)
Tyler McCamey (Barcelona) on bench (8-0 at HB Køge)
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Sam Coffey (Manchester City) injured (1-1 vs. PSG)
* Dual national represents Ireland
Wednesday:
Maya Doms (Roma) 90 minutes (0-2 at Chelsea)
Lily Yohannes (OL Lyonnes) 90 minutes, 1 goal (6-0 vs. Inter Milan)
Alyssa Thompson (Chelsea) 45 minutes (2-0 vs. Roma)
Emily Fox (Arsenal) sub-20 minutes (3-0 vs. Benfica)
Naomi Girma (Chelsea) did not dress (2-0 vs. Roma)
Korbin Shrader (OL Lyonnes) on bench (6-0 vs. Inter Milan)