It’s hard to dream of a better start. Qualified directly for the group stages of the Women’s Champions League, Olympique Lyonnais played their first European match of the season this Tuesday evening. And Sonia Bompastor’s players did not miss out, with a demonstration (0-9) on the pitch at Slavia Prague.
The match was already over after 24 minutes of play, Lyon had already passed the “manita” (0-5, 24th) to their opponent, completely technically overwhelmed. The leader of the Czech championship barely lasted three minutes, before cracking with Sara Däbritz’s opener, at the conclusion of a good move on the left side. In the process, Danielle Van de Donk, Vanessa Gilles, Eugénie Le Sommer and Kadidiatou Diani came to aggravate the score in the first half hour, almost every time on actions on the sides, concluded by a good cross.
Slavia’s first shot in the 28th minute from 35 meters obviously did nothing. The first half ended without surprise as Lyon’s domination of the ball was evident (70%), with a sixth goal just before Wendie Renard returned to the locker room, from a corner (0-6, 45th). And to think that despite this festival in the first period, Diani saw another goal refused for a very borderline offside, and that Ada Hegerberg did not have a very convincing first 45 minutes.
The Norwegian star of OL, not in his mood this Tuesday evening, still scored the seventh goal of the game, from a penalty, after a gross error of judgment by the captain of Slavia Prague, symbol of the difficulties of his team tonight. Two minutes later, Amel Majri, who had just entered the game, joined the party with a perfectly controlled flat foot (0-8, 62nd). A little more dangerous offensively in the second period, Slavia only pushed Endler into the opposite-handed save just after the hour mark.
The record for the largest victory during the groups of the Women’s Champions League (Barça’s 9-0 success against Benfica last season) was finally equaled with a double for Vanessa Gilles on a well-cut corner at the near post (0- 9, 80th). But Olympique Lyonnais did not manage to score a symbolic tenth goal in the final moments… A very tiny regret in a high-level offensive festival!
