Barca badly needs no.9. Ewa Pajor should fit nicely into Barca team next season. I just watched replays of Lyon vs. PSG... wow nice comeback by Lyon .. although starting Picaud who just gave up 3 goals against Guingamp was puzzling to say the least. Is Kiedrzynek injuried?
OL 3 - 2 PSG A great match, worthy of a Champions League semi-final, pace, speed, tactics and nice moves both side. The first half has been rather in favor of OL with more attacks and shots on goal but OL missed a good striker to finish actions. On the first PSG goal, OL defense seemed correct with Renard and Mbock on Chawinga, Carpenter on Katoto, but Baltimore passed Bacha, Endler too short to intercept the ball which passed just between her and Mbock, Carpenter surprised that Endler didn't catch the ball didn't react enough quickly to block Katoto The 25 first minutes of the second half was a nightmare for OL , retreating under the powerful attack of PSG and unable to build and install their game. It could have been more than 0-2. After the first OL sub, VDD for Becho who tried but was a starter by default, Dumornay playing higher on the field brought some pressing, reinforced when Majri entered the field (Cascarino not 100 % healthy). It was not enough but when i saw the PSG coaching, the defencer Le Guily out and Katoto who pressed harshly on OL defense out too, for Martens and Vandsgaard, i thought it was time to score at least one. OL scored 3 in 10 minutes !! The bench finally made the difference. OL will go to Paris with a very thin advantage. If PSG scores 2 goals, coach and Paris players will not make the same mistakes they did at the end of this first leg.
A very bizzare decision by the PSG coach changed the game. Double substitution unbalanced his team so much...
Finally, I had the time to watch the 1st legs of the semifinals from this week-end (I know, I know... too much work shouldn't be enough to justify me! ). Although I had written this... ...I actually wasn't sure Chelsea could manage to stun Barça at home! Brialliant win (although I am clearly not a fan of a crystal-clear PK being reversed by VAR for the slightest of off-sides... ). It seems to me that Ashley Lawrence was a good addition to Chelsea this season (and a big loss for PSG!). You wrote that Barcelona was let down by Caroline Graham-Hansen, @kribi, and, since I didn't watch the whole game, you're probably right, but I at least see her deliver a good assist for Salma Paralluelo and, judging from highlights, it looks like the chances wasted by the latter were at least as much influential to the home team's loss as Norway's star's sub-optimal game. Of course a just one goal's margin is not enough for Chelsea to count on advancing to the final (if you consider that Barça came back from 0-2 in the 2nd Half of the final match of the tournament last season: talk about never-say-die attitude ), but it sure won't be easy for them to win the return match in London. But, by watching the highlights, I must admit that OL-PSG is the game that I most regret having missed: what a roller-coaster! It looked like three games in one: the 1st Half was basically dominated by OL, until the final minutes when PSG scored from a sum of mistakes by OL's defense (as you currectly summed up, @kribi); from there a different game started, that was dominated by PSG well beyond the two goals scored: the many chances they had to make it 3-0 will probably come back haunting them for long; it was not just the undeniable power of Marie-Antoniette Katoto with her clinical finishing, it was also all the offense-line working like a well-oiled machine with Sandy Baltimore, Tabitha Chawinga and Grace Geyoro; and then, suddenly, PSG showcased a treatise on self-inflicted pain! The third section of the game was one-way traffic towards their goal and it's incredible how you can throw away a 2-0 advantage in so few minutes and end up losing by 2-3. Melchie Dumornay was of course a difference-maker for OL, but the impression is that PSG basically stopped playing: maybe they had given too much with their effort in the central part of the game, but there's no doubt that a good coach should have been able to address that. Anyway, both semi-finals see the teams separated by just one goal: should be another exciting week-end upcoming.
Macario instead of Ramirez on point... high pressing, destruction and speed in transition could prove key. if Chelsea players can keep their wit about them and avoid simple mistakes they should emerge victorious.
To be perfectly honest Barca was clearly the better team also in first match but still Chelsea managed to snatch the win. I'd like to believe that with 11 women on the pitch Chelsea could've pulled another surprise before the final whistle... but truth be told Hayes didn't had plan B for tonite. Giraldez and his team learned from last week's defeat, while the Chelsea boss remained complacent, believing that hard defense for 90 minutes should be enough to advance.
I can’t with the online outrage. I don’t think that second yellow was soft at all. Try fouling someone three times within a second and escape a yellow. Buchanan was late with her right foot follow through, very late with her left leg follow through, and slapped Patri for good measure. Stronger argument regarding the PK being soft, but Carter definitely pushed Bonmati into the path of Lawrence, who unfortunately for Chelsea was right behind Bonmati.
I wonder if Lyon is able to put more pressure on Engen and her obvious weaknesses as a CB, they could take it
Half of that 6/7 came from poor Gaetino/Picaud miscues. De Almeida giving the ball away on Dumornay’s goal, and then, Lyon getting a lucky break with the ball was very frustrating.
I just want a ref who will have the backbone to card Damaris in the final. Somehow escaped a yellow and a PK against her in the first leg, and yet again escaped a yellow today despite one yellow worthy foul on its own along with two other fouls.
Biased rant, but this match just felt like some sort of practical prank on Groenen. 1) Elite job preventing a point blank chance for Van de Donk before smartly finding Karchaoui first time for a carry on the counter only to underhit Chawinga on the pass. 2) Elite job recovering the ball from Diani before pulling off a clever back heel for De Almeida only to pick up some sort of knock on top of De Almeida passing the ball like three yards to a Lyon player. 3) Great tackle on Diani before riding a Damaris challenge and finding Le Guilly only for Le Guilly to underhit the return pass. (This one still led to a PSG attack thanks to a great Geyoro tackle on Horan.) 4) Picaud losing out to Horan forcing Groenen to go around her and put off any scoring chance Horan had. 5) That tackle on Dumornay doesn’t play out like that in Lyon’s favor like 9 out of 10 times (in my opinion). Damaris just spent these two legs testing out how much she could get away with before being issued a yellow. The answer was “a lot”. (She’s great, but I’m being completely serious.) Renard, Gilles, and Endler not losing their bearings was the difference in this match compared to Gaetino (still rate her a lot), De Almeida, and Picaud (who did have a couple great saves but should have kept out Bacha’s goal).
The referee was not great, not many fouls punished with yellow cards and there was a lot of unpunished dissent.