Chelsea will go to Barcelona with hope, Arsenal’s mentality is changing, City are flying and the relegation battle is hotting upChelsea may have lost 1-0 in the first leg of the Women’s Champions League semi-final against Barcelona but afterwards they were relatively buoyant. Playing against the possession-heavy and quick-moving Catalans is one of the trickiest tests in football. “You have to be in the tie. We’re in the tie,” said the Chelsea manager, Emma Hayes. She is right but Barcelona walked away the more content side. Yes, they did not capitalise on their dominance to a greater extent, but their play (and injuries to Millie Bright and Kadeisha Buchanan) forced Chelsea to change shape, to a back five. As the...
This was a tale of resolve and courage and conviction with the team depleted by injuries recovering through collective will The pale sun hits the river and smashes into diamonds. Some fans soaking up watery rays on the grass bank in front of the Volkswagen factory. It’s a nothing and everything kind of day in Germany’s 64th biggest city: bit breezy, bit warm, bit cold, bit sunny now, maybe a bit wet later. The noise in the stadium is pleasant, bordering civil. Moral of the story: the elements aren’t going to help you out here. Nor is the crowd. All the fire and sulphur you need to fortify you for this game, you’re going to have to provide yourself.This is...
Out on their own with five Champions League titles in a row, the French club are sweeping all before them but remain a microcosm of the broader conversation around female sportPerhaps the moment we all realised that Lyon were going to win the Champions League once again came about seven minutes before half-time, as Lucy Bronze stepped up to take a throw-in. As Bronze waited for the referee’s signal, she started absent-mindedly spinning the ball on the end of her finger, like one of the Harlem Globetrotters to which this all-conquering, lavishly-funded Lyon team is so frequently compared.It was, in a strange way, the perfect emblem of a final that offered only the illusion of closeness. Though Wolfsburg certainly had...
Europe’s two best sides will cross swords in the Women’s Champions League final for the third time in five yearsThem again. From north London to northern Italy and on to northern Spain, via Germany and France, Lyon and Wolfsburg meet in another Champions League final. San Sebastián, the city with the A-list film festival and the greatest concentration of Michelin stars on earth, brings together Europe’s two best women’s football teams, domestic double winners demonstrating they still dominate this competition. Others draw ever closer, PSG and Barcelona taking them to the wire, but only this familiar pair are still standing.When Wendie Renard rose way above the rest to head in the only goal at San Mamés on Wednesday night, dancing...