Lyon edge Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 in Champions League semi-final first leg to leave tie delicately poised
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Published 24/04/2022 at 18:54 GMT
A double from Catarina Macario helped Lyon take the upper hand in their Champions League semi-final with Ligue 1 rivals Paris Saint-Germain. PSG contributed to their own demise at the Groupama Stadium, with errors by keeper Barbora Votikova responsible for all three of Lyon's goals. The second leg takes place on April 30 at the Parc des Princes.
Catarina Macario of Lyon celebrates with team mate Ada Hegerberg after scoring to give the side a 2-1 lead during the UEFA Women's Champions League Semi Final First Leg match between Olympique Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain at Groupama Stadium.
Image credit: Getty Images
Lyon edged an eventful Champions League semi-final first leg with Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 at the Groupama Stadium.
Going into the encounter it was difficult to predict a favourite, with Lyon five points clear of PSG at the top of Ligue 1 and 6-1 victors over their opponents back in November's league meeting, but PSG exacted some measure of revenge with a 3-0 last-16 Coupe de France win in January.
The theme of the encounter - which pitted the two sides together in the Champions League knockouts for the sixth time in eight years - was defensive errors, and they began as early as the sixth minute, with Marie-Antoinette Katoto taking advantage of Kadiesha Buchanan's over-elaboration to convert at the near post.
Next on the naughty list was PSG keeper Barbora Votikova, who made her first mistake of an awful afternoon, bringing down Melvine Malard in the area, and then failing to keep out Wendie Renard's spot-kick.
Catarina Macario scored Lyon's second on 34 minutes - which had to go down as another Votikova clanger - before even worse was to follow shortly into the second half.
Macario surged forward into the PSG box and when Votikova hesitated to gather - she appeared to be concerned it might be ruled a pass-back - the ball rolled towards the line before being bundled in by Macario. A gift.
That might have broken lesser teams but PSG showed admirable resilience to recover, and got what could prove to be a vital second goal through Paulina Dudek's VAR-awarded penalty.
The result left the all-French tie in the balance with the second leg to come on April 30 at the Parc des Princes.
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