- Chelsea beat Lyon in penalty shootouts to advance to the semifinals of the Women’s UEFA Champions League at Stamford Bridge last night
- Eight-time winners Lyon knew they had a big task ahead of them in London after suffering a 1-0 home defeat in the first-leg
Chelsea beat Lyon in penalty shootouts to advance to the semifinals of the Women’s UEFA Champions League after an entertaining second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Lyon, who are the defending champions, came to England trailing 1-0 after the first leg. The French side came with intention of winning this match and should have scored within a matter of minutes. However, they had several chances begging before eventually finding the back of the net in the 77th minute to level things at 1-1.
The match went into extra-time where the eight-time champions scored first. However, Chelsea scored in the final seconds of extra time after a Video Assistant Review (VAR) awarded them a penalty. It was an extraordinary end to a thrilling extra-time where the Blues forced penalty shootouts.
Mjelde, Kerr, Hegerberg and Jessie Fleming all converted their penalties whereas goalkeeper Berger did her best in goal to earn Chelsea a spot in the UWCL semifinals. This will go down in history as one of the biggest victories in Chelsea’s history.
Chelsea beat Lyon at Stamford Bridge. Photo/ The Mirror.
The Blues knocked out UEFA Women’s Champions League holders Lyon in a quarter-final of rare drama. They will meet Barcelona in the last four.
How Chelsea Reached The Semifinals
Eight-time winners Lyon knew they had a big task ahead of them in London after suffering a 1-0 home defeat in the first-leg.
Lyon coach Sonia Bompastor made three changes from the squad that thrashed Guingamp 6-0 on Saturday. Ellie Carpenter came in at defence, Lindsey Horan joined the midfield whereas Delphine Cascarino started in the front. Striker Ada Hegerberg was on the bench at kick-off.
On the other hand, Chelsea were without defender Millie Bright, who limped out of the first leg with a knee injury.
Lyon had an opportunity to open the scoring as early as in the fourth minute when Magdalena Eriksson made a poor clearance giving the ball to Signe Bruun. However, the Lyon forward missed the golden opportunity.
Lyon were attacking relentlessly as they looked for an equalizer. But as they took risks, Sam Kerr was played through on goal but her effort was saved by the Lyon goalkeeper. The Blues came to scoring once again but Lauren James’ effort didn’t go in as the goalkeeper made a brilliant save.
Lyon introduced their top striker Ada Hegerberg at the start of the second half to cause troubles on Chelsea’s defence. The French giants eventually equalized with 13 minutes left after trying several times witch chances going begging. It was defender Gilles who put the scores level on aggregate.
Lyon continued to attack and they eventually got their reward in the 110th minute when Dabritz’s finished Hegerberg’s cross.
They looked like cruising into the semifinals until Lauren James was brought down in the box with seconds left to play. Mjelde brilliantly dispatched the corner to force a penalty shootout which the Blues won. Chelsea beat defending champions Lyon in one of the most entertaining matches this season.
Maren Mjelde celebrates after scoring for Chelsea. Photo/ ESPN.
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