UEFA Women's Champions League: Players to watch on Matchday 2

The UEFA Women's Champions League group stage continues on Wednesday and Thursday after the excitement of the opening week.

We look at three players who shone as the groups began and a stalwart of the competition bringing up a milestone against opponents that are more than familiar.

Sofia Cantore (Juventus)

Cantore joined Juve just ahead of her 18th birthday in 2017 but injury and loans delayed her breakthrough in Turin for five years. However, the speedy and intelligent Italy forward has become an important player for club and country and this season has taken things up a notch, not least in the Champions League.

Cantore scored in both legs of the round 2 defeat of Paris Saint-Germain that booked Juventus a return to the group stage. She was again the match-winner on the opening day with a fine arrowed finish to seal a 1-0 victory at Vålerenga and as they welcome Bayern on Wednesday, Cantore will hope to again shine against one of Europe's big teams just as she did against Paris.

Alex Popp (Wolfsburg)

On Thursday, Popp is set to become only the second player to reach 100 appearances in the competition. Also on the pitch will be the first, Wendie Renard of Lyon, as the clubs, and that pair of Champions League stalwarts, face off for the ninth time. Four of those past encounters were finals, Popp experiencing victory in 2013 and scoring (ultimately in vain) against Renard and Lyon in both 2016 and 2020.

Popp's game is about more than goals, of course, having played as a defender and deep-lying midfielder as well as a forward in her career. But it is in an advanced role that the 33-year-old has mostly been seen this season, with Ewa Pajor departed, and her six goals this season include a Champions League round 2 hat-trick at Fiorentina that show Popp is still as dangerous as she has been in more than a decade of crucial European showdowns with Lyon.

Cathinka Tandberg (Hammarby)

Tandberg is not quite as familiar to this tournament as Popp; her European debut came last year in Linköping's 3-0 round 1 semi-final loss to Arsenal and now she is part of Hammarby's side on their own Women's Champions League bow. But she has already made her mark, both with the last-gasp goal at Benfica that took Hammarby past the 2023/24 quarter-finalists into the group stage, and then by scoring again after coming off the bench on Matchday 1 as they beat St. Pölten 2-0.

The 20-year-old Norway forward made an immediate impact at Hammarby after joining in August, scoring on her club debut against former side Linköping, and the St. Pölten goal last week means Tandberg is already up to double figures for her new team. Visiting a Barcelona side smarting from a loss at Manchester City will be the greatest test yet of Hammarby's new status but Tandberg's instinct in the box, movement and technique could well mean the holders will have their hands full again.

Keyleigh van Dooren (Twente)

Van Dooren was scoring regularly for Twente and had broken into the Netherlands squad when in November 2022 she suffered an ACL injury that was to keep her out for 15 months. After being eased back in late last season for the Eredivisie winners, Van Dooren has hit the ground running in 2024/25, getting a Dutch Super Cup hat-trick in August, then finishing as Champions League qualifying joint-top scorer on four goals as Twente earned a group debut that began with a 2-0 victory at Celtic, the 25-year-old striking late in each half.

Now Van Dooren is the Women's Champions League top scorer for the season as a whole on six goals, the cool lob that put Twente 1-0 up at Celtic underlining the confidence and poise with which she is playing. That is quite the contrast for a player who did not make it on to the pitch for the whole of 2023, and another chance to put herself in the spotlight comes on Thursday at home to Chelsea.