Lyon hold off PSG to set up Women’s Champions League final with Barcelona

Goals from Champions League record scorer Ada Hegerberg and club captain Wendie Renard earned Lyon a 2-1 win in a feisty semi-final second leg with Paris Saint Germain and set up a mouth-watering final with reigning champions Barcelona in Turin.

In front of a record crowd of 43,255 for a women’s domestic game in France, Hegerberg headed the visiting team ahead before Marie-Antoinette Katoto’s second half leveller drew PSG to within a goal of Lyon over two legs and set up a tense final half-hour. However, Renard rose highest to head home and restore Lyon’s two-goal advantage.

On a night when Barcelona suffered a shock 2-0 defeat to Wolfsburg, their first loss in 45 games, to progress to the final in Turin with a 5-3 aggregate win, 500 miles to the west Lyon were making a statement.

There has been much talk of the new Spanish queens of Europe, and it has not gone unnoticed in France.

“There was women’s football before Barcelona, and it was played here for years,” a somewhat frustrated Hegerberg had told L’Equipe wryly earlier this month. “We have to win again to regain our place in world football. We have the chance to do it this season. We have never lost against Barcelona.”

Having come from behind to earn a 3-2 home win last weekend, the seven-time European champions were decidedly unfazed by the show being put on for them by the Paris ultras who, with tifos, flares and drummers, bounced constantly behind the goal their team were attacking in the first half.

Yes, Lyon faded last season, failing to reach the Champions League final for only the third time in 10 years after winning the prestigious cup competition for five seasons in a row. However, they were a team in transition, with a high player turnover and the absence