Lyon edges Arsenal and Barcelona beats Chelsea as UWCL semifinals press

Photo courtesy of UEFA Women’s Champions League

The UEFA Women’s Champions League semifinals kicked off Saturday with a 2-1 win for Olympique Lyonnais over Arsenal at Emirates Stadium. On Sunday, Barcelona defeated Chelsea 4-1 at Estadi Johan Cruyff to set up a nearly un-winnable second leg. If Barcelona and OL win their respective semifinals on aggregate over two legs, the final will be a rematch of the 2023-24 European title decider. The Spanish side won that competition, 2-0.

The French powerhouse showed its pedigree on Saturday with a strong performance and clinical finishing. Arsenal actually led the game in many statistical categories, holding a 57% majority of possession. The team took nine corner kicks to OL’s three, completed and attempted more passes, and recorded13 goal-scoring chances to OL’s 11. However, only three of Arsenal’s attempts were on target, compared to five for the French side.

“It’s a stage of the competition when it’s all about results, and that’s the only way you’re going to get through,” Lyon coach Joe Montemurro said postgame. “You have to find a way and suffer — sometimes, the football isn’t the best, but we have a strong team of characters who have the ability to find a way in these special moments.”

Kadidiatou Diani opened the scoring in the 17th minute after Ellie Carpenter’s incisive pass sent the French national team forward in behind the Arsenal backline. The goal was initially called offside but VAR confirmed Diani was onside, overruling the on-field call.

Arsenal created numerous chances, particularly dominating large portions of the second half, but they did not make it on the scoreboard until the 78th minute, when Mariona Caldentey converted the Londoners’ penalty kick. The Gunners were somewhat lucky to be awarded the penalty in the first place. It came from a bizarre situation where Lyon goalkeeper Christiane Endler came out to punch a corner service but ended up connecting with Leah Williamson’s head, neither player very close to the ball at all.

“There was a phase when we were really strong, when we played our game and we were dominating and working really hard to get a goal,” Arsenal head coach Renée Slegers said. “That was a strong phase for us, and we should have scored more.”

Less than five minutes after Arsenal equalized, Lyon once again showed their ruthlessness and composure by scoring a go-ahead goal. The home side had all the momentum but switched off, allowing Melchie Dumornay to be sent in straight down the middle of the Arsenal defense after a couple quick passes, assisted by second-half substitute Amel Majri. Dumornay was brilliantly clinical with her finish.

Despite taking a one-goal lead into leg 2, to be played on Sunday, April 27 at 12pm ET at Parc Olympique Lyonnais, midfielder Daniëlle van de Donk was not satisfied with her team’s performance.

“Everyone is saying it was a good performance, but I think they had a lot of opportunities and we could have scored earlier, especially myself,” van de Donk said. “But I’m happy with the win, and we’ll hopefully take some confidence out of this game for the next game.”

Montemurro echoed his midfielder, acknowledging that it’s very important to take the lead into the second match but also knowing that the door is still open for Arsenal to turn things around in the second leg.

“The way Arsenal can play, and the way they can find spaces, it’s going to be a difficult game,” Montemurro, the former Arsenal head coach from 2017-2021, told media. “I said to the players that we’re only halfway there, we’re not there yet. Arsenal will go into the second leg with no pressure — they’ve just got to go for it and, sometimes when the pressure is off that can be dangerous.”

Though they will be the away team, Arsenal are confident in their ability to get a result next weekend.

“I have full faith in the team and the staff we’ve got around us,” Arsenal forward Alessia Russo said. “We’ve done it before, it’s obviously going to be a really tough game out there. But I have full belief, and we’ll work really hard to put it right this week.”

U.S. women’s national team regulars Lindsey Heaps (nee Horan) and Emily Fox played the entire match for their respective clubs, while Sofia Huerta and Jenna Nighswonger were unused substitutes.

The weekend’s second semifinal match did not result in as close of a final score, as Barcelona thoroughly dismantled Chelsea in Spain.

Chelsea were on the back foot from the beginning when VAR awarded Barcelona a penalty kick for a handball just 10 minutes into the game. Goalkeeper Hannah Hampton was able to save the attempt from Alexia Putellas to keep the score level early. Barcelona would eventually open the scoring through Ewa Pajor in the 35th minute.

Catarina Macario subbed in for Chelsea in the 61st minute and played a key role in her team’s lone goal.

No more goals were scored until the 70th minute when the proverbial floodgates opened. Claudia Pina, having only come on in the 66th minute, doubled Barcelona’s lead before Sandy Baltimore pulled one back for Chelsea just four minutes later.

“We need to keep the ball better; we can attack them with more quality and composure,” Chelsea defender Lucy Bronze said. “You saw how easy it was to score the goal we did score – it was probably our one true attack and a goal came from it. If we have more of those opportunities, this is a Barça team you can hurt on transitions. We’re a team who can be really good on transitions.”

Defender Naomi Girma came on for her UWCL debut in the 81st minute as Chelsea was setting up to defend a corner. Veteran defender Irene Paredes restored Barcelona’s two-goal advantage in the 82nd minute, heading in Pina’s corner kick service for her team’s third goal of the night.

At that point, things started to fall apart for Chelsea. The English side started to look stretched thin and defeated, neither defending nor attacking well or with purpose.

Bronze, who previously won the UWCL with Barcelona twice and OL three times, acknowledged that after the third goal “we got more tired and maybe let the game get away from us a little bit.”

“Maybe at 2-1 we should have just shut up shop and taken that result back to Stamford Bridge,” Chelsea midfielder Keira Walsh said. “It’s easy to say that now, but maybe we were too open in the second half and didn’t play with as much intensity.”

Barcelona’s prettiest goal of the night, and Pina’s second off the bench, sealed the result for the home team just before stoppage time. Pina did well to finish near post but Putellas’ back heel in a tight space for the assist stole the show.

Pina was awarded Player of the Match for her two goal, one assist performance in just 24 minutes. The attacker has now scored nine goals in seven UWCL appearances this season. Barcelona’s leading goalscorer in the European competition drew immense praise from her teammates.

“Clàudia Pina is just lovely madness,” Paredes said. “Everything she does, she does really, really well. She accepts when she’s on the bench but her goals give us life.”

“My first goal was just an eruption of fury and joy, having only just come off the bench. It’s euphoria,” Pina said. “The pass to Irene [Paredes] from the corner was a set play we practised on Saturday, so I was thrilled it came off. The second goal seemed like a good addition to a fine scoreline – because it’ll be a very different game over there. In football, no scoreline is ever ‘enough’. We had our fans behind us today, but, over there, they’ll have theirs. It’ll be a wholly different scenario, and we’ll have to go out with the same attitude.”

Overall, Chelsea knew their performance wasn’t good enough.

“Intensity of concentration was a factor,” Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor said. “Before the game, I reminded my players that, against Barcelona, every single detail is important. At 2-1, we made maybe some big mistakes in how we wanted to defend the box. They scored the third from the corner and, on the fourth goal, we weren’t intense enough.”

Still, hosting the second leg at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea are keeping their hope of a UWCL final alive.

“It happens, but it’s not good enough and we have to learn from that. I still believe in my team and my players, 100%,” Bompastor said. “It’ll be difficult, but the main goal is to score early in the return leg. In football, everything is possible — so let’s try to win the game and, if we score early, maybe we can put Barcelona under pressure.”

Chelsea will host the second leg against Barcelona in London on Sunday, April 27 at 9am ET.

“If we have that same atmosphere — probably even more — next weekend, it will be amazing and push us on to hopefully get the win and score as many goals as possible,” Bronze said. “We’ve got way more goals in this team than we showed today.”

All four teams are fighting for a spot in the 2025 UWCL Final on Saturday, May 24 at 12pm ET at José Alvalade Stadium in Lisbon, Portugal.