Wolfsburg stun Arsenal to reach UWCL final in front of record Emirates crowd

A crowd of 60,000 got their money’s worth — though the Gunners fell just short in a thriller

Monday was a record-breaking evening in north London but unfortunately for Arsenal, it did not include a famous victory over German powerhouse Wolfsburg.

Pauline Bremer scored in the 119th minute to seal a thrilling Women’s Champions League semifinal tie, giving the visitors a 3-2 win on the night and a 5-4 win on aggregate.

The goal soured what was otherwise a massive occasion for the women’s game, as an announced crowd of 60,063 set a record for the largest attendance for a women’s club match in England. That figure broke the previous record of 49,094 set in the 2022 FA Cup final.

The Gunners and Wolfsburg traded goals in a back-and-forth affair. Stina Blackstenius gave Arsenal the lead in the11th minute, before Jill Roord and Alex Popp scored on either side of halftime to put the German side back in front.

But the home side would answer when Jen Beattie headed home a dramatic equalizer in the 75th minute that sent the tie into extra time.

Just as it appeared the affair would be settled on penalties, Lotte Wubben-Moy was caught in possession by Jule Brand, who crossed for Bremer to tap home and give Wolfsburg a stunning late win.

Wolfsburg advanced to the Champions League final against Barcelona on June 3. The German side will be looking for its third Champions League title and first since 2014.

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Chelsea fends off Lyon as UWCL quarterfinal goes into Twilight Zone

The UWCL drama levels, and the strangeness, were extremely high

Chelsea and Lyon played out a UEFA Women’s Champions League classic on Thursday, with the finish containing equal parts weirdness and drama

The Blues emerged victorious on penalties despite losing 2-1 on the night, with Maren Mjelde’s spot kick in the eighth minute of stoppage time leveling the aggregate scoreline at 2-2 with the game’s final touch.

Ann-Katrin Berger then emerged as the hero, saving two spot kicks to end Lyon’s reign as the champions of Europe.

Chelsea won the first leg 1-0 in France, setting up an extremely tense second leg. Both teams pursued the opening goal, and between that exuberance, typically rainy London conditions, and desperation from both teams to win, a true battle played out at Stamford Bridge.

Berger stopped an early Delphine Cascarino chance (with Lindsey Horan inches away from poking the rebound home), only for Christiane Endler to respond by denying a Sam Kerr one-on-one later in the first half.

The tension kept going up, and the game got progressively more strange. Melanie Leupolz had to leave the match a bloody mess after she was struck in the face by Danielle van de Donk’s trailing hand. A short-handed Chelsea would end up withdrawing their entire central midfield for a range of reasons, while a typically stacked Lyon was able to turn to the likes of Ada Hegerberg and Dzsenifer Marozsán off the bench.

Finally a goal came, and for Lyon it was symbolic of how scrappy they had to be to gain an edge over Chelsea on the night. A recycled set piece was chested down by Wendie Renard to Horan, who had just enough speed to round Jess Charles and hit a blind cross along the endline.

Vanessa Gilles had stayed forward, and did just barely enough to reach a foot out before Magdalena Eriksson could arrive, somehow prodding the ball towards goal, off Berger’s upper arm, and (by mere inches) over the line.

Through sheer willpower, Lyon appeared to have gained an edge as Chelsea’s energy levels flagged. Extra time largely saw the visitors look more potent, and if anything a goal for the defending champions felt inevitable.

In the 110th minute, the pressure finally told. Vicki Bècho’s clever flick gave Lyon width, and Hegerberg’s cross from the right floated just out of Eriksson’s reach. With the rest of the Chelsea defense too stagnant, Sara Däbritz’s bobbling finish — while far from convincing — was just enough to get past Berger.

Chelsea began the predictable “last chance saloon” approach, hoofing it long and hoping for the best. Lyon, with a team stocked with strong headers and seeming to have more energy, looked solid.

However, with essentially the last play of the match, the French giants couldn’t quite clear Berger’s free kick from midfield. Wendie Renard won the first header, but could only glance the ball away from the goalmouth. Kerr tried a cross, but Bècho beat multiple Chelsea players to the ball.

Chelsea’s Lauren James saw that header fall to her, and for a split-second, the option to shoot was open. James took another touch though, then tried to get to the endline. Bècho followed, and James hit the deck.

Initially, referee Ivana Martinčić had no interest in giving a penalty, but a two-minute VAR check (all coming after the two minutes of stoppage time that had initially been announced) centered on whether Bècho had clipped James, or if James had clipped her own feet.

At long last, Martinčić gave the penalty, but even that wasn’t enough drama for this match. It took over a minute from that point for Mjelde to have the ball on the spot, but there were still two more minutes to wait. The reason? Martinčić wanted every player from both teams, other than Mjelde and Endler, to clear out of the area. It seemed like this was a literal last kick.

More than three minutes after knowing she’d have to take a stoppage-time penalty in a UWCL quarterfinal against mighty Lyon, and with manager Emma Hayes literally unable to look, Mjelde held her nerve, powering the equalizer past one of the world’s best goalkeepers.

Chelsea shot first in the tiebreaker, and Mjelde — just four minutes in real time from when she’d beaten Endler the first time — was among the successful shots from both teams. However, Berger flew to her left to deny Renard in the third round, giving Chelsea the edge.

It lasted just moments. On the very next shot, Endler dove to her right to slap James’ penalty away, and Däbritz would bring Lyon back to even terms heading into the final round.

Jess Carter made no mistake for Chelsea, but with the game on the line, Berger read Horan’s intentions all the way, tipping the U.S. women’s national team star’s effort away.

Chelsea, despite looking like they’d run out of gas before crossing the finish line, were somehow through.

Having come through extraordinary drama, Chelsea joins Barcelona, Arsenal, and Wolfsburg — who knocked out France’s other big power, Paris Saint-Germain, earlier on Thursday — in the semifinal draw.

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Arsenal demolishes Lyon 5-1 in UEFA Women’s Champions League stunner

Beth Mead and Caitlin Foord both struck twice in a shocking result

2022 is a good year for women’s soccer in England, and Arsenal seems intent on keeping the party going.

The Gunners started their UEFA Women’s Champions League group schedule with arguably the most difficult assignment in women’s club soccer: a road game against Olympique Lyon. That’s defending UWCL champion Lyon, who generally pick a starting eleven that reads like a veritable world all-star team.

Despite all that, and being without Leah Williamson, and controversially starting with Vivianne Miedema on the bench, Arsenal made light work out of Lyon. The 2021-22 Women’s Super League runners-up crushed the French giants 5-1 at Groupama Stadium, with Caitlin Foord and Beth Mead both scoring twice.

While Lyon were missing multiple starters on their back line and up front, Arsenal were hardly expected to wipe the floor with them like this. Instead, the visitors were ruthless from start to finish, breaking a 22-game home unbeaten run for the defending champs. Arsenal’s five goals are the most any visiting team has ever scored on Lyon in competitive play

Arsenal opened the scoring in the 13th minute, with Kim Little playing a splendid ball in behind the Lyon defense for Mead, whose low cross found Foord wide open at the back post.

Eight minutes later Frida Maanum — in her first-ever Champions League start — doubled the lead. Arsenal again played a ball from deep in behind, catching Lyon’s defense unprepared. Christiane Endler kicked Stina Blackstenius’ initial shot away, but Maanum calmly tucked the rebound into the far corner.

While Melvine Malard pulled one back in the 27th minute, Arsenal got into the break with a two-goal edge thanks to Mead. The England star sent a low free kick around the Lyon wall, and Endler couldn’t keep the shot out despite getting a hand to it.

If Endler didn’t look good on that goal, another international star would look worse as Arsenal made it 4-1 in the 67th minute. France captain Wendie Renard went for a long cross-field switch, but fired the ball right to Foord instead, and the Australian settled before curling a beautiful shot past Endler, ending any real hope for Lyon to come back in the match.

Mead would add a fifth two minutes later, as more sloppy passing from Lyon handed Arsenal another chance to counter. Maanum picked off a back pass to no one in particular, and then saw Mead’s storming run from deep. Mead charged onto the ball, taking one touch before beating Endler with a powerfully-struck low shot.

 

Trying to salvage anything from the game, Lindsey Horan hit the post with a stoppage-time header for Lyon, but it simply was not her side’s day. Fortunately for them, there are still five more games in group C, though the pressure will be on both from a results perspective, and simply in terms of performance. They face a road match at Juventus next Thursday, October 27, and a loss would put them in truly dire straits in terms of getting to the knockout rounds.

Watch Arsenal hit Lyon up for five goals

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