The UEFA Women’s Champions League Final became the story of the two goalkeepers as the shoot-out was settled by them both deciding to take a spot-kick. There had been some excellent penalties in the tense drama before the final chapter was completed when Paris Saint-Germain’s Katarzyna Kiedrzynek sent her penalty wide before Sarah Bouhaddi scored to give Lyon the trophy with a 7-6 shoot-out victory.
Before that drama, the final was a tight affair with Lyon always looking like the team that possessed a little more quality than their Paris rivals. However, the cup holders were dealt a huge blow when influential player Alex Morgan was forced to withdraw from the pitch through injury.
This appeared to give Paris a boost during the first half as they were the team that eventually created the best goal scoring chances with their most useful effort coming just after the half-hour mark.
Bouhaddi mobbed after scoring winning penalty.
Lyon goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi pulled off a simply unbelievable save to deny Paris captain Shirley Cruz Traña a certain goal. After Cruz Traña cut inside Camille Abily, she opened up a fantastic opportunity for herself but the brilliance of Bouhaddi denied her.
Early in the second half, Ada Hegerberg came close to giving Lyon the advantage when the ball broke to her after it was blocked by Paris goalkeeper Katarzyna Kiedrzynek. The newly-crowned BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year squandered the opportunity however, and prodded wide with the goal at her mercy.
An incredible move from Paris up the field a short while later, saw Cruz Traña slip through the Lyon midfield before gliding a lovely through pass to Marie-Laure Delie. Bouhaddi was beaten by her shot but the ball skimmed past the post for a goal kick.
There wasn’t much between the teams during extra-time with either Lyon nor Paris wanting to make a mistake that would see them surrender the chance of lift the UEFA Women’s Champions League trophy, and so the match went to that dramatic penalty shoot-out.
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Olympique Lyonnais: Bouhaddi, Renard (c), Kumagai, Majri, Le Sommer, Marozsan, Hegerberg (Bremer 60), Buchanan, Abily, M’Bock Bathy, Morgan (Thomis 23 (Lavogez 108)).
Subs not used: Gerard, Houara-D’Hommeaux, Henning, Seger.
Paris St-Germain: Kiedryzynek, Delannoy, Diallo (Veronica Boquete 57), Cristiane, Lawrence, Paredes, Perisset (Morroni 90), Delie, Formiga, Geyoro, Cruz Trana (c) (Georges, 80).
Subs not used: Geurts, Boulleau, Baoudi.
Referee: Bibiana Steinhaus (GER)
Attendance: 22,433
Source / photos – faw.cymru
