Contend with girl around European capital (6)
I believe the answer is:
vienna
'european capital' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'contend with girl around' is the wordplay.
'contend' becomes 'vie' ('vie' can be a synonym of 'contend').
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'girl' becomes 'ann' (**).
'around' says the letters should be written backwards.
'ann' back-to-front is 'nna'.
'vie'+'nna'='VIENNA'
(Other definitions for vienna that I've seen before include "Austrian capital" , "European city for New Year's Day concert" , "Capital city of Austria" , "Capital city on the Danube" , "Wien" .)