Olympique Lyonnais, eight-time winners of the UEFA Women’s Champions League, headed to Portugal on Tuesday to dispute the first leg of their quarterfinal fixture.
BEN: Pauels; Ucheibe, Costa, Araújo; Falcón, Gasper, Nazareth, Faria, Alves; Nycole, Alidou
OL: Endler; Bacha, Mbock Bathy, Gilles, Carpenter; Däbritz, Horan; Diani, Majri, Cascarino; Le Sommer
Perhaps unexpectedly, Benfica started as the stronger of the two sides on the Iberian peninsula – with Andrea Falcón unlucky not to have opened the scoring as her effort was tipped onto the crossbar by Christiane Endler.
But they did ultimately take the lead just before the break, with Andreia Faria silencing the French side in the 43rd minute through her remarkably composed finish.
Olympique Lyonnais drew level shortly after the hour mark through Delphine Cascarino, smashing home from close range before Sara Däbritz completed the comeback with a header in the 79th minute.
Embed from Getty ImagesTuesday’s match serves as a reminder of Benfica’s quality, as Olympique Lyonnais will be looking to seal their progression to the semifinal, where they’ll face either BK Häcken or Paris Saint-Germain.
