Lyon 1-4 Arsenal (agg: 3-5): Arsenal turn tie around with stunning win

Arsenal are set to contest their second UEFA Women's Champions League final – and their first since 2007 – after battling back from a first-leg defeat to overpower Lyon 4-1 in France.

Match in brief: Arsenal pull off comeback

Trailing 2-1 from last weekend's first leg, Arsenal drew themselves level in the tie within five minutes, when Chloe Kelly's corner led to a goal-line scramble and Christiane Endler deflected into her own net.

Arsenal dominated possession in the opening half, but Lyon created opportunities too, with Leah Williamson blocking a header from Wendie Renard and Selma Bacha sending a free-kick narrowly over the crossbar.

However, it was the Gunners who pounced next to pull ahead in the tie for the first time. With the interval approaching, Alessia Russo teed up Mariona Caldentey and the Spanish midfielder sent a curling strike flying past Endler to make it 3-2 on aggregate.

The party starts for Arsenal in LyonGetty Images

Russo then extended the visitors' lead shortly after the break, running onto Frida Maanum's knock-on to bury a low strike, before Daphne van Domselaar maintained Arsenal's advantage by denying the competition's all-time leading scorer Ada Hegerberg from close range.

Caitlin Foord made the tie even safer just beyond the hour mark, capitalising when Vanessa Gilles lost her footing on the edge of the area and firing high into the net. And although Melchie Dumornay got a consolation for the home side with nine minutes remaining, it wasn't enough for Lyon to execute a comeback of their own.

Visa Player of the Match: Kim Little (Arsenal)

"Many Arsenal players shone in this game, but Little was brilliant and played a major role in Arsenal winning. She controlled the central midfield throughout, both offensively and defensively. She won a lot of duels and always made sure that the balance between offence and defence was kept equal. Her experience was decisive in this match."
UEFA Technical Observer Group

Vanessa Tomaszewski, match reporter

This was a dominant 4-1 victory for Arsenal, who book their place in the final. The Gunners controlled the game from the start, thanks to their clinical finishing and relentless pressing, while Lyon struggled to find their footing. Foord's goal seemed to seal OL's fate, and although Dumornay's late strike gave the French side a glimmer of hope, it is Arsenal who can now look forward to a showdown with Barcelona.

Reaction

Renée Slegers, Arsenal coach: "We are very, very, very proud. I think this was the biggest challenge so far, coming back from a 2-1 loss at the [Arsenal Stadium] against this top team with so much quality, and then coming out here, so calm and composed, with so much belief in what we're doing and courage on the pitch.

"The players have been working incredibly hard physically and technically, but the way they presented themselves from a psychological perspective today, it was so impressive."

Joe Montemurro, Lyon coach: "It's difficult straight after the game to analyse exactly where it went wrong, but from the personality to the emotion and the tactics, it was a difficult day for us. We've been pressed high by many teams and Arsenal did it very well today. We tried to play through it, but they were smarter than us, they were better than us and they deserve the credit for the win."

Kim Little, Arsenal captain and Player of the Match: "Sometimes the flow of a game goes your way and today it went our way, and I think we scored at really crucial times. This is an incredible football club and we've had numerous games in the Champions League and not quite made it to the final since we won it in 2007, so it's really special to get there. We all can't wait to represent this great club in the final."

Caitlin Foord, Arsenal forward and goalscorer: "Any goal for this club is special, especially to do it in a moment like I did. I'm just so happy to put it away and put the team in a great position, so I just wanted to enjoy it. It was really good to come out and put the performance out there like we did. I think we played really well. We created the momentum and we finished our chances, which was so important."

Vanessa Gilles, Lyon defender: "It wasn't good enough. We weren't closing their passes, we were late to tackles; it was unacceptable if we wanted to make it to Lisbon [for the final]. We needed to get more [goals], which obviously we didn't. We weren't able to beat their press. It hurts."

Key stats

• This was only Arsenal's second victory in 13 meetings with French clubs in UEFA competition (D3 L8). Their previous success was a 5-1 victory away to Lyon in the 2022/23 group stage.
  
• Mariona Caldentey has scored in eight of her last 11 Women's Champions League appearances for Arsenal.
• Arsenal had never won away from home in a two-legged UEFA competition semi-final before this match, drawing three times and losing four.
• Lyon had won 11 of their previous 13 UEFA competition semi-final ties prior to this game.
• Wendie Renard played her 500th Lyon game and her 125th match in Europe.
• Before this defeat, Lyon had lost only one of their previous 21 Women's Champions League matches – winning 18 and drawing two.
• Melchie Dumornay has scored in six of Lyon's last seven matches in the knockout rounds of the Women's Champions League.
• The only side to have progressed from round 1 to the semi-finals in this format, Arsenal became the first team to play 14 games in a single UEFA women's club season, breaking Lyon's record of 13 from 2021/22.

Line-ups

Lyon: Endler; Carpenter, Gilles, Renard (Sombath 75), Bacha; Egurrola (Marozsán 75); Heaps (Van de Donk 69), Dumornay; Diani, Hegerberg (Le Sommer 69), Chawinga (Majri 58)

Arsenal: Van Domselaar; Fox, Williamson, Catley, McCabe (Reid 90+2); Maanum (Wubben-Moy 87), Little, Mariona (Cooney-Cross 87); Foord, Russo (Blackstenius 72), Kelly (Mead 72)