2024-03-28 01:00:13
Sara Däbritz and Olympique Lyon are the first team to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League. Chelsea follows suit a little later.
Record winners Olympique Lyon and FC Chelsea can continue to dream of triumph in the “premier class” with their German trio as the first semi-finalists in the Women’s Champions League. France’s eight-time title winners Lyon reached the semifinals with a 4-1 (1-1) against Benfica Lisbon (first leg: 2-1), and Chelsea eliminated Ajax Amsterdam with a 1-1 (1-0/first leg: 3-0). .
Of the three German aces in Lyon’s squad, international Sara Däbritz was in the starting line-up after her winning goal in the first leg, but was substituted at half-time. Former national team captain Dzsenifer Marozsán and Laura Benkarth did not play. In Chelsea’s draw, Sjoeke Nüsken only came into the game for the final 24 minutes despite her decisive brace in the first leg, while Melanie Leupolz and substitute goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger remained on the bench.
No Bundesliga club in the last eight
Delphine Cascarino became the match winner for Lyon against Eintracht Frankfurt’s Portuguese opponents in the preliminary round with a brace (43rd minute and 51st). The other goals were scored by Bathy Mbock (90+1) and Vicki Becho Desbonne (90+6) in the final phase. Lisbon, which had recorded a 1-0 and a 1-1 draw against Frankfurt in the group phase, had a temporary equalizer through Marie-Yasmine Alidiou d’Anjou (45th) shortly before the end of the first half.
Amsterdam, one of Bayern Munich’s stumbling blocks in the preliminary round, was unable to embarrass Chelsea after their clear defeat in the first leg. More than the equalizer by Chasity Grant (65th) after Chelsea’s lead by Mayra Ramirez (33rd) was not possible for the Dutch on the island.
The two other semi-finalists will be determined on Thursday. Defending champions and Frankfurt’s second group opponents FC Barcelona and SK Brann from Norway as well as Paris St. Germain as winners of the Munich preliminary group and the Swedish representative BK Häcken will compete against each other.
Champions and Bundesliga leaders Munich and Frankfurt failed in the preliminary round. Former title winners VfL Wolfsburg even had to bury their hopes in qualifying. This means that for the first time since the introduction of the Women’s Champions League in the 2001/02 season, there is no Bundesliga club in the round of the last eight teams.