The women of Olympique Lyonnais, reigning European champions, put themselves in a bad position by conceding a defeat (1-0) at Groupama stadium in the quarter-final first leg of the Women’s Champions League against the English club of Chelsea. The return match will be played on March 30 in London but clearly, OL will have to show a lot more to hope to reverse the trend after this first round. We will have to win by two goals.
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The Blues seal a big first-leg triumph over the reigning champions in France! #UWCL // @ChelseaFCW
— UEFA Women’s Champions League (@UWCL) March 22, 2023
The Lyonnaises, handicapped by numerous absences due to injuries (Macario, Hegerberg, M’Bock, Henry) who must still, at the very least, challenge, rather dominated the first period. But they did not really know how to be dangerous except on two off-target opportunities from Eugénie Le Sommer (9) and Sarah Däbritz (39).
The lower OL
In the end, they obtained six corners against two at Chelsea who, despite the premature exit of England international Millie Bright through injury (43), were more incisive. And Guro Reiten found the opening with a wrapped shot from the right after a pass from Erin Cuthbert who had recovered the ball from the feet of Lindsay Horan (28). Chelsea soon had other chances with an attempt from Lauren James hitting the post (36) while Samantha Kerr narrowly missed the target in added time in the first half (45+5).
Shortly after half-time, James and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd again pushed OL’s Chilean goalkeeper, Christiane Endler, to two saves in two stages (54, 89) just like Kerr who shot just wide (75) . Overall, Lyon proved to be inferior to their opponent in terms of commitment to face the physical density of the London team but also of rhythm, like the anonymous performances of Le Sommer, Dzsenifer Maroszan or Horan.
However, Olympique Lyonnais could have equalized on a shot from Delphine Cascarino, hitting the post after a bad recovery from Magdalena Eriksson on Vicki Becho (61), or on a shot from Daniëlle van de Donk, off target (81). But the replacements made by coach Sonia Bompastor did not bring anything, or at least not enough.