Lyon 4-1 Bayern München (agg: 6-1): OL survive early scare to reach semis

Lyon are through to their 14th UEFA Women's Champions League semi-final after an early second-half burst of goals extinguished a potential Bayern München comeback.

Klara Bühl halved Bayern's aggregate deficit with the only first-half strike, but Melchie Dumornay, Kadidiatou Diani and Tabitha Chawinga all scored early in the second period. Ada Hegerberg then added another goal at the end to keep Lyon unbeaten over 90 minutes under Joe Montemurro and safely through to the last four.

Match in brief: Lyon come through

Bayern gave a first Champions League start to January signing Momoko Tanikawa and also deployed Jovana Damnjanović as they looked to revamp their attack, and they did begin brightly.

Wendie Renard soon went close to turning in a Dzsenifer Marozsán centre, but Bayern reduced their arrears when former Lyon defender Carolin Simon, fresh from signing a new contract, won the ball inside the home side's half. Bühl exchanged passes with Damnjanović and Tanikawa, then burst into the box and beat Christiane Endler with an angled finish.

Bayern sensed their chance now and Julia Zigiotti Olme threatened with a header as half-time approached. However, less than 30 seconds after the interval, Dumornay headed in a cross from Diani to level on the night and restore Lyon's two-goal aggregate cushion.

Eight minutes later, Diani got her fifth goal of Lyon's Champions League campaign, pouncing on a loose touch from Giulia Gwinn and firing in. On the hour, Chawinga made it 3-1, turning in a Diani ball at the far post.

The combined efforts of a diving Maria-Luisa Grohs parry and an acrobatic overhead goal-line clearance by Zigiotti Olme prevented Damaris Egurrola from adding to the scoreline. Despite that reprieve, Hegerberg poked in during added time to register her 66th European goal after being set up by Dumornay's solo run.

Visa Player of the Match: Kadidiatou Diani (Lyon)

Kadidiatou Diani with her trophyUEFA via Getty Images

"She changed the game in the second half with two assists and one goal in the space of 15 minutes. Every time she had the ball, it was a problem for the Bayern defence. Aggressive and always looking to penetrate the space behind the line."
UEFA Technical Observer Group

Vanessa Tomaszewski, match reporter

Bayern bossed possession during an impressive first-half display, but Lyon responded in dominant fashion to complete a commanding victory. Dumornay turned the tide in their favour before they took control with further goals from forwards Diani and Chawinga, with Hegerberg's late fourth of the evening sending them into the semi-finals in style.

Melchie Dumornay (left) celebrates her goal with Wendie RenardGetty Images

Reaction

Joe Montemurro, Lyon coach: "You expect when you're playing against teams like Bayern that you are going to suffer a bit. I have to pay credit because in the first half they caused us a lot of problems.

But this team knows how to resist. It also knows how to the change and adapt according to the situation. We took our chances. It wasn't our best performance, but I'll take it."

Alexander Straus, Bayern coach: "It's disappointing after that first half. We did exactly what we had planned and played very strongly against Lyon.

"It's tough to lose so heavily over two games, but teams like that punish you mercilessly if you make mistakes. We have to learn from this and not give our opponents so many chances in the future."

Kadidiatou Diani, Visa Player of the Match and Lyon forward: "It was a game full of twists and turns. We were trailing and, in the first half, we weren't good enough. That first goal hurt us. We came back out with a different mindset.

"I'm lucky to play alongside these two players [Chawinga and Dumornay] who have incredible physical and technical qualities. Playing with them is a real pleasure."

Selma Bacha, Lyon defender: "We weren't focused from the start. We weren't there on the second balls. Against Bayern, who are a very strong team, that doesn't go unpunished. This is the Champions League. The level is very intense.

"Thank you [to the fans]. If we're winning today, it's thanks to them. We heard their support, their voices. This qualification is, above all, thanks to the fans."

Pernille Harder, Bayern forward: "We played a really good first half and scored a goal. But, with their goal right after the break, Lyon gained momentum. We wanted to continue as before, but the early goal made it very difficult for us.

"We can still be satisfied with the first half, but we would have really loved to have won and reached the semi-finals."

Key stats

• Bayern's goal was only the second conceded by Lyon in their eight-game run so far.
• Lyon are unbeaten over 90 minutes in their 27 games since Montemurro became coach (W25 D2).
• Having contested a joint-record 16th quarter-final, Lyon are now through to their 14th semi-final, six more than any other club.
• Lyon became the first club to dispute 150 matches in UEFA women's club competition (Arsenal are next on the list with 122).

Line-ups

Lyon: Endler; Carpenter (Huerta 86), Gilles, Renard, Bacha; Marozsán (Hegerberg 61), Heaps (Däbritz 86), Egurrola; Diani (Le Sommer 70), Dumornay, Chawinga (Majri 70)

Bayern: Grohs; Gwinn, Hansen, Eriksson, Simon (Kett 67); Lohmann (Caruso 77), Zigiotti Olme; Tanikawa, Harder (Alara 67), Bühl (Dallmann 77); Damnjanović (Schüller 51)