Goal! Lyon 3-0 Barcelona (Hegerberg)
Hegerberg on a hattrick already! And it’s a smart finish, hooking in with her left foot, but a preposterously easy goal. It was Majri who waltzed into the box unassailed, squaring from the left for the striker to blast home.
17 mins: Lyon’s Plan A is becoming increasingly clear. Again they look to unleash the pacy Van der Sanden down the right flank but this time the pass is just too strong and goes out for a goal kick.
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Goal! Lyon 2-0 Barcelona (Hegerberg)
A carbon copy of the first goal! Van der Sanden is again released down the right, speeds in behind the defence and squares low and hard. This time it’s Hegerberg waiting to tap in.
11 mins: Lyon really starting to assert their dominance. Le Sommer floats in a cross from the left that’s just too high for Hegerberg. A few inches lower and it’s a goal. After a bright start, Barcelona are struggling to get out of their half.
10 mins: Majri with some delightful skill on the left, spinning 180 degrees not once but twice and leaving her numerous markers with twisted blood.
8 mins: Lyon work their way down the left this time and Hegerberg, on the penalty spot, can’t quite twist her body to hit a clean shot. She lays off so an onrushing Majri, who drives at goal. Panos saves and Van de Sanden nods the rebound over. That could easily have been two-nil.
Goal! Lyon 1-0 Barcelona (Marozsan)
A quick and alarmingly simple move sees Mbock pick out Van de Sanden with a ranking downfield ball. The winger scampers down the right, plants a low cross into the box, and watches the Budapest-born Marozsan tap in an easy finish.
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4 mins: Barca’s turn to attack. Putellas spread a nice ball to Duggan, out on the right, whose cross is charged down. Seconds later she’s played in again but drags her shot side. A decent chance.
2 mins: a few early touches for Bronze, stationed high up the right flank. After a one-two she nods the ball inside to Van de Sanden, who blasts the game’s first shot wildly over.
We’re off
After high-fives all round between each set of teammates, Barcelona get the game under way. Almost immediately, Lyon nick the ball high up the pitch and pin their opponents back.
The teams are out, and crunching handshakes are exchanged. The mascots scuttle off. We’re almost ready to go.
But before any of that – pomp and ceremony! Tonight’s prematch entertainment comes courtesy of a team of blue and white clad dancers, who flail their limbs gallantly to the sound of boilerplate Euro-pop.
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Bronze and Duggan aren’t the only Britons in action today. In the engine room for Lyon is Jess Fishlock, Wales most capped player of all time, on loan from Seattle Reign. She will play in a deep-lying role alongside Amandine Henry, with Dzsenifer Marozsán roaming forward just ahead of them.
And there’s still time to work your way through this meaty preview of the final, with soundbites from both sides of the divide:
Lyon’s Dzsenifer Marozsán, captain of Germany, was born in Budapest – so a victory here tonight would be doubly precious. “I can play the first time at home in front of my family,” she says. “It’s my dream, it was my dream, but now it’s true.”
So Toni Duggan starts for Barca, most likely on the left of a front three. Here’s our correspondent Suzanne Wrack with an in-depth piece on how the England forward has got on in the two years since her move from Manchester City:
The teams are in!
Lyon: Bouhaddi, Bronze, Renard, Henry, Majri, Le Sommer, Marozsan, Van de Sanden, Hegerberg, Fischlock, Mbock. Subs: Weiss, Bacha, Kumagai, Cascarino, Buchanan, Jaimes, Simon.
Barcelona: Panos, Maria Leon, Losada, T Marta, Mariona, Alexia, Aitana, Leila, Duggan, A Pereira, Martens. Subs: Gemma, Van der Gragt, Melanie, Andressa Alves, Patri, Oshoala, Andonova.
Preamble
There’s dominance, and there’s Dominance. And in the case of Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, we’re very much in the realm of the latter. Indeed, we have been for some time. Some basics facts: 13 straight domestic league titles, 10 domestic cup wins since 2003 and – get this – two league defeats in nine seasons. A Champions League victory in Budapest tonight would be their fourth in a row, and their sixth in nine years. Reynald Pedros’ team are reaching a level of supremacy not just unparalleled in women’s football, nor even in all football – but in all top-level sport, anywhere, any time.
Barcelona, then, have their work cut out. Their hunger for a trophy will be deep after finishing second in their domestic league for a fourth season on the trot. Surprisingly, this is their first appearance in the Champions League final. Given that their task tonight is to thwart the unthwartable, it’s in their favour that they have a hell of a defence.
English viewers can look forward to a subplot to two, Toni Duggan likely to lead the line for Barca, and Lucy Bronze and Izzy Christiansen among Lyon’s number (although the latter is a major doubt). The trio spent three years as teammates at Manchester City, while Bronze and Duggan will team up again at the World Cup this summer.
In reaching this season’s final, Lyon have clocked up an aggregate scoreline of 29-5, and their all-star squad contains the captains of France, Germany and Japan. Oh, and the inaugural Ballon d’Or winner up front – Ada Hegerberg is averaging a shade over a goal a game this season. Yet standing in their way today is Spain’s most miserly defence who have not conceded a goal in this competition since the round of 32, seven games ago. There’s no doubt Lyon are an unstoppable force. The question is, can Barcelona present them with an immovable object?
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