The Lyonnaises won 4-1 against Benfica on Wednesday and returned to the semi-finals of the Champions League, after their early elimination against Chelsea last season.
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After winning 2-1 in Portugal in the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League, Olympique Lyonnais reproduced the pattern at home on Wednesday March 27, and scored a 4-1 victory against Benfica, thanks in particular to the doubles of Delphine Cascarino and Kadidiatou Diani. A score which allows the Lyonnaises to be the first to reach the semi-final of the Champions League, where they will cross paths with Paris Saint-Germain or Häcken, who face each other on Thursday at 6:45 p.m. (2-1 victory Parisians on the way out).
As in the first leg, Sonia Bompastor’s players scared each other, between a lack of realism and opportunism from the Portuguese. After numerous attempts by Eugénie Le Sommer, it was Delphine Cascarino who found the net thanks to an error by the Lisbon defense (1-0, 43rd). But OL failed to hold the score and conceded the equalizer after a superb opening from Kika Nazareth, concluded by Marie-Yasmine Alidou from Anjou, at fault on the previous goal (1-1, 45th).
Returning from the locker room, Delphine Cascarino put Fenottes back in front with a powerful strike at the edge of the area (2-1, 53rd), before Kadidiatou Diani made the break on an action initiated by Amel Majri (3-1 , 90+1). The Lyon striker even scored twice at the end of the match, following an error by the Portuguese defense (4-1, 90th+5).
Two French doubles, on the eve of Hervé Renard’s list
Delphine Cascarino is experiencing a thunderous return to the Champions League, having not played a single minute in the competition before this double confrontation against Benfica. Already a scorer in the first leg, the Rhone winger scored a nice double during this quarter-final return to launch her team. She was also the most active player on the Lyon side, with three key passes, five dribbles attempted for three successful ones and 84% accurate passes. A reassuring performance for someone who was kept off the field for eight months due to a ruptured cruciate ligament.
Kadidiatou Diani was also reassured against Benfica. The French striker had not scored, outside of the Coupe de France, since January 25 during a large 7-0 victory against Saint Polten in the group stage of the Champions League. Since then, she had gone through seven matches without a single goal, apart from an enchanted parenthesis with the Blues and a goal against Germany in the semi-final of the League of Nations (2-1 victory). Against the Portuguese, she scored an express double, in five minutes flat, with great success. Two great news for the France team and Hervé Renard, who will announce his list for the qualifying matches for Euro 2025 against Ireland and Sweden on Thursday afternoon.