Wolfsburg and Lyon are set to meet for the third time in a UEFA Women’s Champions League final after both teams saw off English opposition to seal their berths in the Kyiv decider on 24 May.
Holders Lyon edged Manchester City to maintain their pursuit of a record fifth title, while two-time winners Wolfsburg are back in the showpiece after dispatching Chelsea. Their Kyiv showdown will be their third final meeting in six years – echoing the early dominance of FFC Frankfurt and Umeå, who faced off in three of the first seven UEFA Women’s Cup finals.
Lyon and Wolfsburg also crossed paths in the quarter-finals last term, and there is nothing to suggest that this year’s decider will be any less tight than their previous encounters.
- The final: 18:00CET (19:00 local time), Thursday 24 May, Valeriy Lobanovskiy Dynamo Stadium, Kyiv
Key stats
Wolfsburg: through to their fourth final in six participations, and their third against Lyon (whom they beat in 2013 and lost to three years later). Wolfsburg now hope to become only the third three-time winners after Lyon and Frankfurt, while picking up Germany’s tenth title in the 18-year history of the competition.
Lyon: set to contest a record seventh final (one more than Frankfurt), Lyon are aiming to move one clear of FFC by becoming the first five-time winners. They can also become the first team to win three finals in a row, having edged the last two on penalties.
#UWCL head to head
2017 quarter-finals
First leg: Wolfsburg 0-2 Lyon – Abily 62, Marozsán 89
Second leg: Lyon 0-1 Wolfsburg (agg: 2-1) – Hansen 82pen
2016 final (Reggio Emilia)
Wolfsburg 1-1 Lyon (aet, 3-4 pens) – Popp 88; Hegerberg 12
2013 final (Chelsea)
Wolfsburg 1-0 Lyon – Müller 73pen
Key players
Wolfsburg
Alex Popp: the versatile Germany forward scored the late equaliser when these sides met in the 2016 final.
Pernille Harder: attacking star of Denmark’s run to the UEFA Women’s EURO 2017 final and prolific since joining from Linköping last year.
Lyon
Camille Abily: the all-round midfielder became the first player to make 80 UEFA women’s competition appearances during the semi-finals, having claimed the record from Emma Byrne (77) in the previous round. Due to retire this summer, she has been part of all four previous triumphs, while her 42 goals for OL is the highest tally for a single club in this competition.
Ada Hegerberg: the Norwegian forward has scored a record-equalling 14 goals in this season’s competition to take her career tally to 36, putting her in the top ten at the age of 22. Overall this season, she has 46 goals in 26 appearances, only failing to score in four games.
Road to the final
Wolfsburg
Round of 32: Atlético Madrid 3-0a, 12-2h (agg: 15-2)
Round of 16: Fiorentina 4-0a, 3-3h (agg: 7-3)
Quarter-finals: Slavia Praha 5-0h, 1-1a (agg: 6-1)
Semi-finals: Chelsea 3-1a, 2-0h (agg: 5-1)
Lyon
Round of 32: Medyk Konin 5-0a, 9-0h (agg: 14-0)
Round of 16: BIIK-Kazygurt 7-0a, 9-0h (agg: 16-0)
Quarter-finals: Barcelona 2-1h, 1-0a (agg: 3-1)
Semi-finals: Manchester City 0-0a, 1-0h (agg: 1-0)
Key facts
- Luisa Wensing, Lena Goessling, Anna Blässe and Alex Popp all played in Wolfsburg’s final wins of 2013 and 2014. Popp also won with Duisburg in 2009.
- Of those players, Goessling, Blässe and Popp all started against Lyon in the 2016 final, with Wensing an unused substitute.
- Sarah Bouhaddi, Wendie Renard, Camille Abily and Eugénie Le Sommer featured in all four of Lyon’s previous final-winning teams (no other players have won more finals; Popp could equal that record if Wolfsburg beat Lyon).
- Bouhaddi and Renard have contested all six of Lyon’s finals (no other players have appeared in more separate finals).
- Lara Dickenmann was part of the Lyon team that lost to Wolfsburg in 2013 and also played for them in the finals of 2010, 2011 and 2012, claiming two titles. She was in the Wolfsburg side that lost to Lyon in 2016.
- Lyon have played in five Franco-German finals, winning three and losing two.
- The only UEFA Women’s Champions League final not to feature either of these teams was also a Germany v France affair, Frankfurt beating Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 in Berlin in 2015.
- Coaches Stephan Lerch (Wolfsburg) and Reynald Pedros (Lyon) took charge at the start of the season, in both cases their first roles at the helm of senior women’s sides.
- Amandine Henry could make her 50th competition appearance in the final, making her the 31st player to reach that mark – a list that includes Abily, Renard, Élodie Thomis, Popp, Le Sommer, Babett Peter and Bouhaddi.
Kyiv 2018
Venue: Valeriy Lobanovskiy Dynamo Stadium
Tickets: On sale now
Past UEFA Women’s Champions League finals (since 2010)
2017: Lyon (FRA) 0-0, 7-6 pens Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), Cardiff
2016: Lyon (FRA) 1-1, 4-3 pens Wolfsburg (GER), Reggio Emilia
2015: FFC Frankfurt (GER) 2-1 Paris Saint-Germain (FRA), Berlin
2014: Wolfsburg (GER) 4-3 Tyresö (SWE), Lisbon
2013: Wolfsburg (GER) 1-0 Lyon (FRA), Chelsea
2012: Lyon (FRA) 2-0 FFC Frankfurt (GER), Munich
2011: Lyon (FRA) 2-0 Turbine Potsdam (GER), Fulham
2010: Turbine Potsdam (GER) 0-0, 7-6 pens Lyon (FRA), Getafe
Be the first to comment