Horan sets sights on ninth Women's Champions League crown for Lyon

Olympique Lyonnais midfielder Lindsey Horan is "like a kid at Christmas" as her side gets set to kick off their Women's Champions League group game against Slavia Prague with a view to reclaiming a title with which they have become synonymous.

Lyon are by far the most successful club in the competition's history, but they lost to Chelsea on penalties to crash out at the quarter-final stage last season, and Horan and her team are keen to make up for that disappointment.

"There's eight Champions League trophies that this team has won, and for me coming into this club, it's like that is the mark, this is the standard," Horan told Reuters from the team hotel in Prague.

The 29-year-old, who captains the United States national team, has won one of those eight titles with the club, and she puts Lyon's success down to the winning mentality they have fostered over the competition's 22-year history.

"Everything we did on the field was like, 'we're playing for each other. I'm trying to win this game with my team mates'," Horan said.

"I think it's players like Wendie (Renard), players like Ada (Hegerberg) that have instilled that and that have been here for such a long time, that's now our responsibility to keep carrying that."

A World Cup winner in 2019, Horan says the winning mentality in Lyon is similar to that in the U.S. national team.

"In the U.S. sense, we're a little psycho in that in that way - I mean, we will do anything, anything in our power (to win)," she explained.

GRITTY AND INTENSE

"That could be not playing well and just gutting it out, that gritty, intense game where you're like, no matter what, I know we're winning this game, but it just might not be pretty.

"I think here at Lyon, I feel like we find a way to win or find