OL win in pain against Benfica

Olympique Lyonnais, the first French team to enter the competition during the quarter-finals of the Women’s Champions League on Tuesday, offered themselves a narrow 2-1 win over Benfica.

A painful victory. Olympique Lyonnais suffered a scare at the Stade de la Luz against Benfica in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday 19 March, but the Portuguese eventually won 2-1 despite opening the scoring in the first period. A reactive Ron team, which was slow to perfect its dominance.

However, Sonia Bompaster’s daughters were bathed shortly before the break following a disagreement between Vanessa Gilles and Grige Mbok, which allowed Andrea Faria to gain from deep (1-0, 43rd). The Lyonesses bounced back from the locker room thanks to a very lively Delphine Cascarino (1-1, 63rd), before doubling the lead on Sara Debritz’s header late in the match (1-2, 79th).

Defense at bay, attack uninspired

In a floodlit Luz Stadium, Olympique Lyonnais took their time to settle into their match and almost conceded a goal at Lisbon’s first chance when Andrea Falcón forced Christian Endler to dole out a cut ball at the first post (8th). The first chance symbolizing the defensive magnanimity of the Rhodaniennes, still bereft of their captain Wendy Renard, is injured. After opening the scoring on an under-supported pass by Vanessa Giles (43rd), Benfica could have broken several times if Chandra Davidson had made better choices in the final third of the field (45th and 51st).

Even for OL, everything is a question of choice. Despite clear dominance and 20 shot attempts, Sonia Bompaster’s players often lacked sharpness or courage once they arrived in the Lisbon area. And they all came against Lena Pouls, the Benfica goalkeeper who made 7 saves on his line. Another icon here, Lyon captain Eugenie Le Sommer, who celebrated his 400th match with OL this Tuesday, was quickly substituted during the game after a ghostly 55 minutes. Lyon’s light would eventually come from incoming player Melchi Dumornay, who would move in with a backheel for the equaliser, before counter-calling exactly and clearing space for Debritz to make it 2-1. Olympique Lyonnais will meet in front of their home crowd on March 27 to show a better face during their return to the quarter-finals.