The Women’s Champions League It started with its direct elimination phase. This Wednesday, the greatest Chilean exponent in international football took to the pitch. Christiane Endler He started and played the 90 minutes in the defeat of Olympique de Lyon. Playing at home, at the OL Stadium, the current European champions they fell 1-0 with Chelsea, for the first leg of the quarterfinals of the 22-23 edition.
It was a duel with fresh antecedents. The French defeated the English in the semifinals of 2019. In this sense, the blue cast aspired to revenge and counted, for that purpose, on the offensive power of its main figure: the Australian forward Sam Kerr.
In general terms, The game for the leaders of the French league was not comfortable, despite having some chances to put the score in their favor. During the first half, the arrivals were mainly through distance shots. At 15 minutes, in one of the main approaches of the first period, a shot by Eugénie Le Sommer was blocked by goalkeeper Ann Katrin Berger. Despite this, Chelsea found the opening goal in the 28th minute, thanks to Guro Reiten, who hit the goal with a shot from the entrance of the area. Tiane Endler’s stretch graced the score.
Towards the second part, there were some emotions in the areas, but always on the scene of a duel of even forces. The national goalkeeper was key to keeping the distance of a goal. In the 54 ′, she had a very good containment, after a defensive error by Lyon. Both the British and the French had options. For example, at minute 59, the locals almost tied, however Cascarino’s tight shot hit a post.
From side to side. Chelsea could well have gone 2-0 and put the tie on track, but Sonia Bompastor’s OL was also close to 1-1. In fact, in the 81st minute, they almost equalized with a shot from Danielle van de Donk, which narrowly missed.
The current continental champions registered 51% of the ball possession, However, that did not translate into greater offensive power, because they barely added two shots to Berger’s goal. In this way, Endler and company are forced to overcome the score in London. The second leg will be played next Thursday, March 30.
The route to the final of the Women’s Champions League, which will be in Eindhoven (Netherlands), is drawn. If Lyon come back and qualify, they will meet Roma or Barcelona in the semifinals. This key opened on Tuesday and the Catalans won 1-0, in Italy.
