Chelsea throws out champion Lyon on penalties and will face Barça

Barça’s rival in the semifinals of the Women’s Champions League was long in coming and will be Chelsea after a dramatic outcome. Lyon, eight times European champion and defending champion, had lost the first leg of the quarterfinals at home (0-1) and was eliminated at Stamford Bridge after equalizing the tie (1-2) and forcing a penalty shootout (4- 3).

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Sonia Bompastor, Lyon coach, introduced substantial changes to the starting team compared to the first leg as she left basic pieces on the bench such as Marozsan, Däbritz y Le Sommer.

Undoubtedly they were the ones marked by that defeat and in the first minutes the revolution in the line-up gave the reason to Bompastor as their players came out like motorcycles and subjected Chelsea to a constant siege.

Initial harassment of Lyon

Thus, in the first five minutes the French had already finished off three times on goal. First a shot of Delphine Cascarino the concierge rejected it Ann Katrin Bergerbut could not stop the ball causing a racket that was about to make it 0-1.

Clearer was the occasion just a few seconds later when Magdalena Eriksson made a big mistake in the punt and gave the ball away to Signe Bruun, who shot high with all the goal for her.

Two stops from Endler

The European champions arrived very easily in this initial stretch until Lauren James appeared. The English forward put in a great pass that left Sam Kerr alone, who stood alone but the Chilean Christiane Endler he avoided the goal on his way out by hitting his face with the shot (14′).

Lauren showed all her class in a great individual play from the corner flag that culminated in a kick that Ender He responded by deflecting the ball over the crossbar (22′).

Hegerberg enters after the break

Chelsea ended up containing Lyon in the first half in a very close and disputed game and continued to do so in the second despite the fact that Bompastor entered at halftime Ada Hegerberg, fresh from injury, rather Signe Brown.

The Norwegian 2018 Ballon d’Or winner was not having the impact her coach had hoped for in the game, but Lyon equalized shortly after Chelsea lost two players, Melanie Leupolz, due to a blow to the nose that caused him to bleed profusely, and Eve had perished due to injury.

The central Gilles forces the extra time

The goal came in a play by Lindsey Horan, who crossed from the baseline and the central Vanessa Gilles He finished off at the near post. Berger came to touch the ball with his body but could not prevent it from going in (76′).

The tie was doomed to be decided in an extension that did not bring any notable plays due to the fatigue accumulated by the players until Hegerberg crossed from the right, the captain Magdalena Eriksson it did not clear and Sara Däbritz He sentenced with a cross shot that was bitten but passed Berger in the 110th minute.

Mjelde equalizes with a penalty in discount

Everything seemed decided but at the discount James fell in the area before the entrance of Vicky Becho. After several minutes of uncertainty, the referee awarded a penalty after consulting the VAR and Maren Naevdal Mjelde, in the last action of the game, he forced the shootout by converting the shot to the ecstasy of the Chelsea fans.

Curiously, in the shootout, James missed Chelsea’s only penalty, while the goalkeeper Ann Katrin Berger she became a hero by saving two penalties against none other than the captain Wendie Renard and the decisive one Lindsey Horan. More emotion impossible.