London, April 28: Arsenal stunned Lyon with a 4-1 away win to reach the Women’s Champions League final at the eight-time champion’s expense.
Lyon, previously unbeaten across all competitions this season, won the first leg of their semifinal 2-1 in London last week. But goals from Mariona Caldentey, Alessio Russo and Caitlin Foord — after an own-goal from Lyon goalkeeper Christiane Endler — gave Arsenal a 5-3 win on aggregate and set up a showdown with defending champion Barcelona in the final.
Barcelona had earlier routed Chelsea 4-1 – after also winning 4-1 in the first leg of their semifinal match – to book its place in the final at Lisbon’s 50,000-capacity Estádio José Alvalade on May 24. But the Catalan side won’t relish playing an Arsenal team that seems to relish adversity, with the London team coming from behind in both the quarterfinals and semifinals after losing first legs against Real Madrid and now Lyon.
The French team was hoping to avenge its final defeat to Barcelona last year as it tried reaching the final for a record 12th time. It never looked likely as Arsenal attacked from the start and only conceded late when Melchie Dumornay pulled one back in the 81st minute.
Endler made a brilliant early save to deny Kim Little, but the visitors scored from the resulting corner when Chloe Kelly’s delivery was headed by Lyon defender Damaris Egurrola off Endler’s back from where it rebounded in.
Caldentey struck a brilliant shot from distance inside the top right corner before halftime, and it got worse for Lyon after the break with Russo surging through Lyon’s falling defenders to make it 3-0 within a minute of the restart. Foord capitalized on another slip in the Lyon defense to seal the win in the 63rd.
It meant Lyon conceded more goals in one game than it had in the entire Champions League all season.
For Arsenal, the only English team to win the competition, it will be a first final appearance since beating Umeå for the trophy in 2007. (AP)
