Women's Champions League quarter-final first-leg highlights, report: Wolfsburg 1-0 OL Lyonnes

An early deflected Lineth Beerensteyn goal handed Wolfsburg a narrow advantage in their UEFA Women's Champions League quarter-final opener against OL Lyonnes.

OL had more of the play against a club they have beaten in three out of four final meetings (not to mention both previous ties in this round), but they will need to come from behind next Thursday to reach the semis for a 15th time. Wolfsburg showed steel in defence to end a run of seven consecutive losses against OL, though Kadidiatou Diani did hit a post for the French side not long before the hour mark.

Match in brief: Wolfsburg hold firm

OL Lyonnes started brightly against a team they beat 3-1 in the league phase to continue their recent dominance against their German rivals. But it was Wolfsburg – missing the injured Alex Popp for the first time in their 12 meetings with OL – who broke the deadlock as Beerensteyn let fly from outside the box and the ball deflected in off Damaris Egurrola.

The visitors looked to respond, and a Melchie Dumornay centre just eluded Ada Hegerberg. Beerensteyn headed narrowly over soon after, having been found in the box by Svenja Huth's deep cross.

Diani began the second half in determined mood and, close to the hour mark, she found her way into the box before unleashing a shot across goal that struck a post. OL then replaced Diani with former Wolfsburg player Jule Brand and also sent on Korbin Shrader, who immediately went close.

However, although the visitors also introduced the likes of Lily Yohannes and Marie-Antoinette Katoto – who had a late opportunity – they could find no way past a determined Wolfsburg defence and suffered defeat over 90 minutes for the first time this season.

Vodafone Player of the Match: Vivien Endemann (Wolfsburg)

Vivien Endemann with the awardUEFA via Getty Images

"Wolfsburg delivered a strong team performance today, but Endemann played a major role in their game. With her speed, she repeatedly created danger on the counter and could often only be stopped by a foul. She also set up Lineth Beerensteyn's goal. Off the ball, she was crucial for the team as well, winning 73% of her duels and succeeding in all of her tackles."
UEFA Technical Observer Group

Judith Tuffentsammer, match reporter

The first leg could not have gone much better for Wolfsburg, who get only their third win against OL in 12 encounters. They had a clear plan of attack for the night, and executed it perfectly. OL created chances early in the second half – and late as Marie-Antoinette Katoto glanced wide – but could not make their pressure pay.

Reaction

Stephan Lerch, Wolfsburg coach: "The plan was to play with courage, especially in possession, and to keep the ball. In the second half, we had to suffer a little, but we defended with heart and with everything we had. I'm very proud of the team. It's a great result for the first leg.

"Compliments to all the players. We had to defend a lot of corners and we know the quality of OL. As I mentioned, we had to suffer a bit and we were lucky in a few situations, but in the end every player did a great job defensively. We defended very compact and that was also a key for this match. We didn't give OL a lot of space in behind, and that was great."

Jonatan Giráldez, OL Lyonnes coach: "We created more chances than our opponents, but I think, in terms of our level, we didn't have a perfect game. We conceded three or four transition situations where Wolfsburg were able to to create chances. We're used to having more control to avoid this type of situation.

"Today, the first big chance they had was deflected by Dama[ris Egurrola] and they were able to score the first goal. After that, we came back into the game, we started to defend better, to attack better, to find spaces to create opportunities, but today it was not enough."

Lineth Beerensteyn, Wolfsburg goalscorer: "The difference was that we were really strong collectively. We fought for every metre, for every goal, and in the end we won 1-0. I'm so proud of this team; it was an amazing performance today. If we show the same spirit as we did today, we can make it very difficult [in the second leg]."

Svenja Huth, Wolfsburg midfielder: "I think we left our hearts on the pitch and defended with a lot of passion, but were also brave going forward. In the end, we got our reward with a 1-0 win. We just had so much passion. Our goal was firstly to be strong defensively, to leave no spaces for Lyon and concede as few chances as possible. But we also wanted to have those moments offensively, to go into the one-on-ones, to put OL under pressure and be brave on the ball going forward."

Ingrid Engen, OL Lyonnes defender: "I'm not surprised that Wolfsburg are a really well-structured and good team. When they defend like this, it's hard to get through, and they were able to protect their lead. We need to see how we can break them down, how we can get even more chances – we had chances in the second half, but we we couldn't score. Now we need to reflect and use these next days to come back stronger."

Key stats

• OL led 19-7 in overall attempts, but it was 3-3 in shots on target.
• Wolfsburg ended OL's 33-game competitive unbeaten run since their Women's Champions League semi-final second-leg loss to Arsenal last April (and an 18-match undefeated run of European away fixtures).
• This was the 12th meeting between these teams in this competition, equalling the UEFA women's club record of OL vs Paris Saint-Germain, a mark that will be broken next week.
• Wolfsburg ended a run of seven straight losses to OL.
• OL had not conceded first in any match since their 3-3 Women's Champions League draw at Juventus on 19 November. In the 19 games between that result and this one, only Les Marseillaises (in two separate matches) had struck goals against them.

Line-ups

Wolfsburg: Johannes; Bjelde (Bergsvand 84), Dijkstra, Küver, Linder; Kielland (Levels 70), Minge; Huth, Peddemors, Endemann (Zicai 75); Beerensteyn

OL Lyonnes: Endler; Lawrence, Renard, Engen, Bacha; Dumornay, Egurrola (Yohannes 71), Heaps (Shrader 60); Diani (Brand 61), Hegerberg (Katoto 71), Chawinga (Becho 78)