Olympique Lyon traveled to Bayern Munich for the first leg of the Women’s Champions League quarter-final. The visitors dominated the majority of the match, with Bayern Munich only having a few good spells. Straus and his team will need a complete turnaround in the second leg. Read our full match report on Bayern Munich vs Olympique Lyonnais.
Match Highlights
- Grohs made her first appearance since returning to training in January after being diagnosed with cancer.
- Tabitha Chawinga opened the scoring in the 35th minute.
- Grohs saved Heaps’ penalty.
- Dumornay doubled the lead.
Two evenly matched sides
Bayern Munich and Lyon are two of the best women’s football teams, and when they face off, a balanced game is to be expected. Both sides walked into some space on occasion, but there were no big chances in the opening 15 minutes.
Lyon controlled the opening of the match with 64% possession, but struggled to convert that into chances. It seemed to be only a matter of time before they pick the lock of the Bayern defence. The home team especially struggled with the clever runs and speed from Dumornay.
Breaking the deadlock
Tabitha Chawinga was given the perfect opportunity to score, and you do not need to tell her twice. She swept the ball off Sembrant, charged toward Grohs and pulled the trigger. The ball found the back of the net.
Bayern hoped to equalize before halftime, but a late challenge on Ellie Carpenter was flagged by the VAR and the referee awarded a penalty. Carpenter was fouled by Zadrazil. Heaps, the designated penalty taker for Lyon, had her effort saved by Grohs. The goalkeeper kept her team in the game, leaving Lyon with a slim one-goal advantage at the break.
Second Half: No changes at halftime
The first big opportunity of the second half came for Klara Bühl. Pernille Harder intercepted the ball high on the pitch and delivered it to Bühl, who fired the ball in the side netting.
Lyon struggled to break free from Bayern Munich’s pressure after the break. Some fancy footwork from Dumornay on the right wing was needed to regain momentum. Dumornay then sent the perfect pass to Diani, who nearly doubled their lead but Grohs made yet another important save.
- Alexander Straus subbed Damnjanović on for Dallman around the one-hour mark.
Dumornay extends the lead
Wendie Renard sent one of her signature long balls forward to Dumornay. She won the header, Heaps picked it up and laid off to Dumornay again. She found the back of the net with a precision strike that Grohs couldn’t stop.
- Joe Montemurro took Maroszán and Chawinga off for Hegerberg and Majri.
- Straus replaced Hansen, Schüller and Caruso with Simon, Lohmann and Tanikawa.
Final phase of the game
Bayern Munich continued to press until the very last minute but were unable to pull one back against Lyon. This means Straus’s side now face an extremely difficult second leg. For Lyon, the night couldn’t have ended better with a 0-2 victory.
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