Olympique Lyonnais beat Arsenal 2-1 in the first leg of its women’s Champions League semifinal on Saturday after Melchie Dumornay grabbed a winner in the 82nd minute to give the record eight-time champion the upper hand in the tie.
Lyon had gone in front after 17 minutes, thanks to Kadidiatou Diani, but Arsenal equalised through Mariona Caldentey’s penalty.
Lyon coach Joe Montemurro, who managed Arsenal for four years and led it to a Women’s Super League title, made a winning return, though his team was hit with wave after wave of attacks in the second half before Dumornay’s finish.
Arsenal wasted several chances while Lyon was steadfast in defence, giving Renee Slegers’ side a lot of work to do in the return leg on April 27 if it is to prevent the French club from reaching its 12th final in the competition.
ALSO READ: History in El Clasico women – Real Madrid beats Barcelona for the first time ever
Lyon took the lead when Diani was set through on the right wing and the French forward drilled her shot across Manuela Zinsberger in Arsenal’s goal to find the far bottom corner.
The assistant’s flag went up for offside to draw a roar from the home crowd, but that quickly turned to groans when VAR confirmed Diani was onside by mere inches.
Arsenal’s best chance came at the half-hour mark when an unmarked Frida Maanum saw her header at the far post go wide.
Lyon nearly doubled its lead minutes later when Dumornay spotted Zinsberger off her line and chipped the ball from nearly 40 metres, only for her effort to come off the crossbar.
The home side had one more chance to level on the stroke of half-time when Leah Williamson’s header hit the bar, while the referee waved away penalty appeals when Katie McCabe appeared to be tripped in the box.
Arsenal played on the front foot in the second half and had two early chances to score, with Alessia Russo having a shot cleared off the line before Beth Mead’s header flew wide.
ALSO READ: East Bengal coach Anthony Andrews, “IWL has grown, but plenty of room to improve”
The pressure finally paid off from a corner when Lyon goalkeeper Christiane Endler failed to punch the ball clear and made contact with Williamson’s head instead, with the referee awarding a penalty after a VAR check.
Caldentey stepped up and sent Endler the wrong way to bury her spot kick in the bottom corner after 78 minutes as the home crowd roared its approval.
However, any hopes of a comeback were snuffed out by Lyon four minutes later when Haitian striker Dumornay used her pace to power past the defence before pulling the trigger to make it 2-1, silencing the 40,000 fans at The Emirates Stadium.
Content Source: sportstar.thehindu.com