Chelsea Women carries a 1-0 advantage from the first leg against the holders Lyon Women as they look to make certain of their place in the semi-finals of the 2022/23 Women’s Champions League season. The winners will play Barcelona Women in the semi-finals for a mouth-watering clash.
CHL-W vs LYN-W Match Details
Date: Thursday, 30 March 2023 / Friday, 31 March 2023
Time: 20:00 (BST) / 00:30 (IST)
Venue: Stamford Bridge, London
CHL-W vs LYN-W Match Preview
Guiro Reiten scored the only goal of the game in France after Erin Cuthberth’s brilliant piece of play set the Norwegian up as Chelsea Women enters the second leg leading on aggregate. The thing that will worry them is their four-game unbeaten run momentum from that win got shattered at the weekend with a 2-1 defeat to Manchester City Women in the Women’s Super League. The result made the title race more intense and knocked the Blues from the top of the WSL chart which they claimed only a week ago. Although Chelsea have a game in hand to play, a four-way title chase will push them to the limits if none of the contenders lose their form in the remaining games. Manager Emma Hayes blamed tired legs for being a factor in the loss because of the congested schedule but no excuse will work if they exit from Europe after taking a crucial lead from the first leg. Their emphatic home form of winning 12 games in all competitions and a record of progressing from all of their last three quarterfinals in the Champions League should help them deny the holders any sort of comeback at Stamford Bridge.
Losing the first leg of the Champions League quarter finals was not something Lyon Women saw and that too at home where they lost for the first time in the 19 such games. The undisputed queens of the competition now face the prospect of elimination at an away ground in the competition for the first time since the 2008/09 season. Lyon last exited from this stage in 2021 which was also the only time they missed out on the Champions League trophy since 2016. However, Sonia Bompastor’s side will wish none of those narratives derail their spirit for the pivotal clash. The holders have plenty of experience in the contest being the record winners of it and contain the quality to overturn the 1-0 deficit. Lyon did dominate the game in the first leg in terms of possession and created chances to score but this time they will want a finishing touch to it. Having already won in London by beating Chelsea’s rivals Arsenal in the group stage, confidence will be high.
Recent Form (all competitions)
CHL-W: LW
OL-W: WL
Recent Form (Champions League)
CHL-W: W
OL-W: L
CHL-W vs LYN-W Team News
Erin Cuthbert was subbed off with an injury concern in the defeat to Manchester City at the weekend but Hayes has claimed the issue is not serious and the Scottish will be in contention against Lyon. However, Chelsea have to wait to know center-back Millie Bright’s fitness by giving her enough time to make herself available for the midweek clash. The 29-year-old was withdrawn with an injury in the first leg last week. Pernille Harder, Katerina Svitkova and Fran Kirby all remain out for the hosts.
Meanwhile, Lyon have their own injury-boosting news with Ada Hegerberg returning to the pitch and scoring with her first touch as a substitute in the 6-0 thrashing of EA Guingamp in the league. The all-time highest goal-scorer in UEFA Women's Champions League got a bit of footballing action after 209 days although Bompastor has not given much on whether the Norwegian is fit enough to start the quarter final second leg against Chelsea.
CHL-W vs LYN-W Predicted Lineups
CHL-W: Anns-Katrin Berger; Eve Perisset, Kadeisha Buchanan, Millie Bright, Jessica Carter; Melanie Leupolz, Sophie Ingle; Lauren James, Erin Cuthberth, Guro Reiten; Sam Kerr
OL-W: Christiane Endler; Ellie Carpenter, Vanessa Gilles, Wendie Renard, Selma Bacha; Lyndsey Horan, Damaris Egurrola, Sara Dabritz; Delphine Cascarino, Ada Hegerberg, Le Sommer
CHL-W vs LYN-W Dream11 Team Prediction
GK: Berger (8)
DEF: Carter (8), Renard (8.5), Bright (8.5), Bacha (8)
MID: Cuthberth (8.5), Horan (9), Reiten (9)
FW: Cascarino (8.5), Kerr (9), James (8)
Vice-captain: Erin Cuthbert
Captain: Guro Reiten
