Bonmati goal helps Barcelona qualify as group winner in Women's Champions League along with Arsenal

Fresh off capturing her latest global award, Spain playmaker Aitana Bonmati scored a goal that helped to send defending champion Barcelona into the Women's Champions League quarterfinals as the winner of its group.

Bonmati raced through and poked a finish between the goalkeeper's legs for Barcelona's second goal in a 3-0 victory over Manchester City in their Group D closer on Wednesday.

The score matched City's win in the reverse fixture between the teams in Manchester in October and meant they finished group play tied on 15 points. Barca progressed in first place courtesy of a superior goal difference.

Bonmati, who has won the last two Ballon d'Or awards in women's soccer, was named the women's player of the year at the FIFA’s “The Best” awards on Tuesday — the second straight year she earned that prize.

Arsenal became the fourth group winner — and the second from England — after beating Bayern Munich 3-2 thanks to a match-clinching penalty by Spain striker Mariona Caldentey in the 86th minute.

The other group winners were record eight-time winner Lyon and Chelsea.

Man City and Bayern had already secured qualification to the knockout stage and will advance as second-place finishers.

Clàudia Pina drove a low finish into the corner to put Barcelona ahead in the 44th against City, and Bonmati doubled the lead in the 57th.

Alexia Putellas scored from outside the area in the 67th to make it 3-0 as the Spanish champions made a strong statement of intent with a dominant performance.

Barcelona — filled with players from Spain's World Cup-winning squad — has won the last two Champions League titles, and three of the last four.

In the other Group D match, Swedish club Hammarby beat St. Polten 2-1 in Vienna and finished in third place.

Juventus beat Valerenga 3-0 to place third in Group C behind Arsenal and Bayern.

Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80

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Arsenal's Mariona Caldentey, left,celebrates scoring their side's third goal of the game from the penalty spot against Bayern Munich during a UEFA Women's Champions League soccer match at Meadow Park, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in Borehamwood, England. (John Walton/PA via AP)

Arsenal's Mariona Caldentey scores from the penalty spot against Bayern Munich during a UEFA Women's Champions League soccer match at Meadow Park, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024, in Borehamwood, England. (John Walton/PA via AP)

Barcelona's Aitana Bonmati scores her side's second goal past Manchester City's Leila Ouahabi, left, during the women's Champions League group D soccer match between FC Barcelona and Manchester City at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona's Aitana Bonmati, center, celebrates after scoring her side's second goal during the women's Champions League group D soccer match between FC Barcelona and Manchester City at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona's Aitana Bonmati, left, celebrates after scoring her side's second goal during the women's Champions League group D soccer match between FC Barcelona and Manchester City at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Dec. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A Virginia man who had a relationship with a Brazilian au pair is going to trial Monday in what prosecutors say was an elaborate double-murder scheme to frame another man in the stabbing of his wife.

Brendan Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the February 2023 killings of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan at the Banfields' home in northern Virginia. He has pleaded not guilty in the case.

Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhães, the family’s au pair, were with the wife and Ryan on the morning the victims were killed in the primary bedroom of the Banfield home, court records say. Authorities have said on that day, Banfield and Magalhães told officials they saw Ryan, a stranger, stabbing the wife after he entered the house. Then they each shot the intruder, Banfield and Magalhães said at the time.

Prosecutors have painted a different picture, arguing that Brendan Banfield and Magalhães lured Ryan to the house and staged it to look like he and the au pair shot a predator in defense. Officials have said Banfield and Magalhães had a romantic affair beginning the year before the killings.

Both the au pair and husband were arrested between 2023 and 2024 and initially handed murder charges in the case. In 2024, Magalhães pleaded guilty to a downgraded manslaughter charge after giving a statement to officials confirming parts of their theory.

In that statement, Magalhães said she and Brendan Banfield created an account in his wife’s name on a social media platform for people interested in sexual fetishes. There, Ryan connected with the account in Christine Banfield’s name, and the users made plans to meet on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023, for a sexual encounter that would involve a knife, authorities said based on the statement from Magalhães.

Prosecutor Eric Clingan said last year that the au pair's statement helped the state solidify its theory ahead of trial.

“With 12 different homicide detectives, there were 24 different theories,” Clingan said. “Now, one theory.”

Not all officials investigating the case have believed Banfield and Magalhães catfished Ryan.

Brendan Miller, a former digital forensic examiner with the Fairfax County Police Department, testified last year that he analyzed dozens of devices and concluded Christine Banfield had connected with Ryan herself through the social networking platform.

An evidence analysis team at the University of Alabama peer-reviewed and affirmed Miller’s digital forensic findings, according to evidence submitted to the court.

Miller was transferred out of the department’s digital forensics unit in late 2024, though a former Fairfax County commander testified the reassignment was not punitive or disciplinary.

John Carroll, Banfield's attorney, argued that Millers' transfer was directly tethered to the case. He also said in court that Fairfax County police reassigned the case’s lead detective after that man had pushed back on the top brass’ catfishing theory.

“It is a theory in search of facts rather than a series of facts supporting a theory,” Carroll said.

Banfield, whose daughter was at the house on the morning of the killings, is also charged with child abuse and felony child cruelty in connection with the case. He will also face those charges during the aggravated murder trial.

FILE - This image provided by the Fairfax County Police Department and taken on Oct. 13, 2023, was submitted as evidence in the murder case against Brendan Banfield shows a framed photo of Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhães on his bedside table in Herndon, Va. (Fairfax County Police Department via AP, File)