Khadija Shaw ruled out of Man City’s crucial Champions League qualifier at Paris FC… as ‘visa blunder’ leaves them without their record goalscorer after ‘late attempt’ to resolve the issue

Manchester City will be without record goalscorer Khadija Shaw for Wednesday’s Champions League qualifier at Paris FC.

The 27-year-old Jamaican who topped last season’s Women’s Super League scoring charts, did not travel to France with her team-mates for the first leg of the second-round qualifying tie as they aim to reach the group stage. 

It has been reported by the Guardian, that City failed to file a visa application. 

The report claims she was sent to the French embassy on Tuesday morning in a last-minute effort for an expedited application, though this was refused. 

City are said to be confident that there will be no future issues which would prevent her travelling for future Champions League away ties.  

Reports claim that City failed to file a visa application for Shaw, but are understood to be confident that there will be no issues that will affect him in for future matches

Shaw is their record goalscorer and won the FWA footballer of the year prize last season

City have crashed out in the qualifying rounds of the Champions League in two of the last three seasons.

They failed to qualify for the competition altogether for last season’s campaign, after they finished fourth in the 2022-23 Women’s Super League. 

Shaw scored 21 goals in 18 games last season, becoming the club’s record goalscorer when she hit her 68th goal in just 82 games back in March.

She also won the WSL and Football Writers’ Association player of the season awards for 2023-24. 

Though she will be a big miss tonight, Man City do have Vivianne Miedema in their squad after she arrived from Arsenal. 

Paris FC eliminated Arsenal and Wolfsburg to reach the group stage of last season’s competition. 

The winners of the second round qualifying tie, of which the second leg takes place next Thursday, will qualify for the group stage.