Arsenal women's player ratings vs Lyon: Olivia Smith comes up big! Gunners' record signing punishes error-strewn OL to provide slender Champions League semi-final advantage
Match Summary
Arsenal will take a slender advantage into the second leg of their Champions League semi-final clash with Lyon, after the defending European champions beat the eight-time winners 2-1 in north London on Sunday.
Key Moments
Jule Brand had given OL an early lead but two calamitous errors in the visitors' defence proved costly, as Ingrid Engen's own goal levelled the scores up to set the scene for Olivia Smith, who had been a livewire all afternoon, to win the game late on.
- Arsenal won 2-1 against Lyon in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final.
- Jule Brand gave Lyon an early lead.
- Ingrid Engen's own goal levelled the scores.
- Olivia Smith scored the winning goal for Arsenal.
The two teams met at this same stage 12 months ago, with Lyon able to win 2-1 on that occasion before falling to a surprisingly big 4-1 defeat on their own turf.
History Repeating?
This year, things are different. After beating Chelsea 3-1 in the first leg of the quarter-finals, to progress by winning 3-2 on aggregate, the defending champions have another advantage here, though they did have to turn things around on the day after Brand broke the deadlock with 18 minutes on the clock.
