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Olympique Lyon in the Champions League: Underchallenged for years

The result: A 3: 1 of the more performance-oriented variety. No demonstration from kick-off to final, but a sovereign favorite victory. You can find the match report here.

The first half: Started off nervously. Also on the part of the women from Lyon, who initiated the kick-off before the teams knelt down for a moment in solidarity with those affected by racism and police violence. The maneuver had to be repeated. After that, the Wolfsburg had far bigger problems, made possible both Eugénie Le Sommers 1-0 by stabbing (25th minute) and Saki Kumagai 2-0 from a distance (44th) through seconds of sleepiness in the goal creation – and hardly came on the other side to relief attacks.

The player of the game: Take the unpredictability and the speed of a hard-thrown bouncy ball and add hard pressing, determination in front of goal and excellent technique – the result could come close to Delphine Cascarino. The 23-year-old initiated the first two Lyon goals and played the Wolfsburg defensive consistently dizzy. Even without Ada Hegerberg (not fit again after a cruciate ligament rupture) and Nikita Parris (suspended), OL was not lacking in offensive class.

The second half: The Wolfsburg women were still not equal in the sense that they could have exerted a pressure comparable to that of the Lyon offensive in the good phases of the first round. But the wolf fought their way into the game. Alexandra Popp, who herself landed in the goal net in a comparable scene at half-time, headed up from a short distance to connect (57th). There were no funds for a final offensive, the punch line instead was a former colleague.

And you, Sara Björk ?: Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir laced the football boots for VfL Wolfsburg for four years. In this Champions League season, the Icelander was on the pitch for Stephan Lerch’s team. Only an exemption from Uefa, according to which summer transfers were allowed for their new clubs in the same season, allowed Gunnarsdóttir to participate in the final tournament in the Basque Country for Lyon. The midfielder met promptly, albeit completely involuntarily: Le Sommer shot her (88th).

Take me five: There are not many clubs in Europe who can call themselves VfL Wolfsburg’s fear opponents. Presumably Olympique Lyon is the only one. The balance reads as follows: DFB Cup winners six times in a row, German champions four times in a row, Lyon failed in the Champions League five times in a row. In odd years (2017, 2019) VfL flies in the quarterfinals, in even years (2016, 2018, 2020) there are final defeats against the French to regret. Maybe it will work out next year.

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