Less than two years after their last coronation, the Lyon footballers will once again taste a Champions League final on May 21 in Turin. Saturday April 30, they confirmed their return to the fore by dominating their national rivals PSG (2-1), to offer themselves a tenth final of the European competition, against FC Barcelona, defending champion.
After a white season, without the slightest title, the Lyonnaises made the experience speak six days after a controlled first leg (3-2), in the wake of Ada Hegerberg and Wendie Renard, scorers in an incandescent Parc des Princes and hostile. OL also took their revenge on last year’s quarter-final, won by PSG on away goals.
Ambitious reigning French champions, PSG proved to be too feverish over all of the two matches. Paris will have bent, in the first leg, on the errors of its goalkeeper Barbora Votikova. He gave in on Saturday against the head game of Hegerberg and Renard, clinics in front of goal on two assists from Selma Bacha (14th, 83rd), despite the equalizer from Marie-Antoinette Katoto (62nd).
The Norwegian, top scorer in the history of the Champions League (58 goals), even thought to double the bet (56th), but Melvine Malard, passer on the action, was offside with a breath.
Amandine Henry’s partners certainly suffered, losing to Katoto on the hour mark, but they resisted, thanks in particular to their goalkeeper Christiane Endler, who flew past Sara Däbritz (54th) and is interposed in front of Sakina Karchaoui (76th).
The Chilean door, which left Paris for Lyon last summer, responded well to the insulting songs of the ultra supporters of the Auteuil bend, who came en masse for the occasion.
The latter ensured a warm atmosphere despite the defeat, restoring to the Parc des Princes an energy forgotten in recent weeks with the men’s section, much criticized by groups of supporters despite the Ligue 1 title.
The attendance was 43,254 spectators: never had a stadium brought together so many people in France for a women’s club match.
For Lyon defender Selma Bacha, OL “has the quality to seek” the European title. So far, the Lyonnaises have never lost against Barça.