Chelsea's win over Lyon raises specter of all-English final

After more than two hours of hacks, miscues, bloody noses and emotional swings, the ball fell to Lauren James in the box. Stamford Bridge had all but lost hope, Chelsea's players seemed spent. Defeated. But England's rising star kept her head, if not her footing.

"I like to draw tackles and I think in that moment everyone expected a shot, so I just thought: 'keep composed,'" she told DW.

While James felt she drew the foul from Vicki Becho, Lyon coach Sonia Bompastor raged at the "injustice" of a decision that took the holders — and winners — of six of the last seven titles, to a penalty shootout, after Maren Mjelde cooly converted from the spot.

German goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger then saved two Lyon penalties to complete an unlikely comeback and seal Chelsea's spot in the Champions League semifinal.

"It's amazing," said James. "Maybe people didn't expect it because [Lyon] are the champions and they've been champions for so many years. But we're Chelsea and we know what we want this year."

 

Lyon forced to accept dethroning

What they want is what Lyon have had for so long.

"They've called it our tournament for many years now," Lyon forward Ada Hegerberg told UEFA, after earlier setting up Sara Däbritz for the goal that the French side thought was the winner.

"This is a big defeat for us. But we need to face it, keep our heads high, and continue to build from it."

Though the Norwegian was a little more diplomatic than her coach, it was clear that the penalty, surprisingly overturned by the video assistant referee, stung.

Dzsenifer Marozsan, Lindsey Horan and Wendie Renard, players who have won everything worth winning, left the pitch with tears in their eyes. This is not a team that loses quarterfinals.

Well, it didn't used to be.

Lyon have been written off before, whether when faced with the rise of Barcelona or with the money being pumped into England's Women's Super League (WSL).

But the French side has a deep enough pool of talent to bring Hegerberg, Däbritz and Marozsan off the bench and leave France's all-time record goalscorer, Eugenie Le Sommer, on it.

After Arsenal dismantled Bayern Munich a few miles northeast of here on Wednesday evening, and with the prospect of a first all-English final very real, the threat to the rest of the continent is apparent.

"English football is on the up, but we'll keep working hard and taking the positives out of French football," insisted coach Bompastor. "Lyon are ambitious and want to win titles. When we don't win, we'll look at why."

In truth, she may conclude that Lyon don't actually need to change too much after losing an edgy, visceral sort of game decided by a contentious penalty, and then a penalty shootout.

However, the margins are now finer than they once were, and it's hard to believe Lyon could win six of the next seven.

Chelsea craving first Champions League

Chelsea still crave that first one. And with Barcelona awaiting in the semifinal and Arsenal and Wolfsburg on the other side of the draw, nothing has truly been achieved yet.

But beating the team that has cast such a long shadow over European football for so long, however it’s done, builds belief. It's a quality Chelsea, and perhaps English teams in general, have lacked in this competition thus far.

Emma Hayes, the London side's coach, wrote in her pre-match program notes that, the last time they played Lyon in 2019, Chelsea spent "much of the first leg trying to convince ourselves that we deserved to share the stage with them. This time we know we belong at this level, competing as equals with the very best in Europe."

Though Lyon's strength in depth is enviable, Chelsea, Arsenal and the two Manchester clubs, United and City, are increasingly flexing the financial muscle that those WSL sides tied to men's super clubs possess. Crowds are growing, momentum is building and the results are starting to show.

With the strength of the WSL and England's Euros win, teams and players are increasingly battle-hardened and are making a habit of winning, even when their boss has stopped believing.

"I didn't see a goal in us to be honest," admitted Hayes. "It was the most character-building performance, even if it was also the ugliest."

If Chelsea are to upset the odds again and beat Barcelona, they will need that character, and they may even need to get a little ugly. But now they know that they can. And they know that they belong.

Edited by Matt Ford