Lead keeps Lyon positive at Torres

Olympique Lyonnais look favourites to reach their third consecutive European semi-final when they visit ASD Torres Calcio 3-0 up on Wednesday but they will do so on the back of a rare defeat.

Fresh from their UEFA Women's Champions League quarter-final first-leg win against Torres at Stade de Gerland last week, OL lost 2-0 at FCF Juvisy on Sunday, only their second D1 Féminine defeat of the season, meaning they slipped to third behind their opponents. Lyon were trying to put that reverse behind them as they flew to Sardinia.

"Obviously I'm very disappointed," striker Lotta Schelin, scorer of two first-leg goals, told the club's official website. "Right now, we have to forget about [the weekend] match as we have another game." Accompanying Schelin on the flight to Italy were two French internationals on their way back from injury, defender Laura Georges and goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi.

As if having to overturn a three-goal deficit was not enough, Torres have also had to deal with a virus that left them without several regulars in the runaway Italian league leader's relatively narrow 2-1 defeat of GS Roma CF on Saturday. However, they hope to be at full strength on Wednesday when they attempt to do what domestic rivals ASD Bardolino Verona failed to do at this stage of the UEFA Women's Cup last season and prevent Lyon making the semi-finals, the stage they have reached in all their European entries so far. The winners of this tie will face either Lyon's compatriots Montpellier Hérault SC or Umeå IK, who meet in France with the scoreline at 0-0, in the last four.