The green and gold cupolas of Kiev’s 11th-century St Sophia Cathedral are beguiling at any time of year but the light in May shows them off to particularly good effect.
Nick Cushing and his Manchester City players hope to follow the tourist path through Ukraine’s capital next month, visiting both St Sophia and the spectacular domed St Michael’s monastery. They are keen to walk the old town’s cobbled squares, to linger over coffee and admire the pastel painted buildings.
The only problem is that Lyon share a similar ambition. Like City, Reynald Pedros’s side are fiercely determined to reach the Women’s Champions League final at the city’s Valeriy Lobanovski Dynamo Stadium, where either Chelsea or, most probably, Wolfsburg will await next month.
It makes for an intriguing semi-final second leg in Lyon on Sunday. Especially as the score is 0-0 after last Sunday’s first leg in Manchester where, perhaps crucially, Cushing’s team denied Pedros’s players an away goal.
Given that Lyon had won all of their previous 28 competitive games this season, that represented quite an achievement in itself. Now, though, City must go one better and find a way beyond Wendie Renard, Pedros’s imperiously assured France centre-half, and company.
Karen Bardsley acknowledges that the task confronting them is far from straightforward. “Lyon were frustrated by the first-leg result,” cautions the City and England goalkeeper, whose outstanding late save denied France’s Amandine Henry a headed goal. “But we realise that we’ve now got to step up to another level. We know we have more to give.”
City’s clean sheet last Sunday was achieved courtesy of an intelligent spoiling performance from a home side featuring 10 members of Phil Neville’s England squad. While Cushing’s defence impressed, with Demi Stokes excelling at left‑back, Jill Scott and Izzy Christiansen caused significant midfield disruption, ensuring Pedros’s band of European all stars lost their customarily mesmerising one- and two-touch passing rhythm. It forced Lyon to switch to more direct tactics, leaving them, unusually, looking far more likely to score from set pieces than open play.
“We were poor,” acknowledges Lucy Bronze, Pedros’s former City right-back, whose customarily swashbuckling advances were subdued by Stokes. “City executed their gameplan well and had probably planned better than we did. The expectation at Lyon is to always play well but I don’t think we reached our usual standards.”
The normally free-scoring French side are aiming to lift the Champions League trophy for a third year in succession and the fourth time in their history.
“The pressure’s on them,” says Bardsley. “They’re expected to win but drawing in Manchester has given us a lot of belief. I think we’ve learned a lot since we played them in last year’s semi-final [when Cushing’s team won 1-0 in France but lost 3-2 on aggregate].
“We’ve learned how to manage games, and momentum, against top opposition. But now we’ve got to make the most of the opportunities that come our way. It’s going to be about taking our chances.”
Although City were commendably well organised when Lyon had the ball last week, they did not always maximise their own spells of possession. “We know we’ve got to use the ball a bit better, we know we’ve got to be very good,” says Bardsley. “But we’re up for the challenge.”
So, too, are Chelsea, despite trailing 3-1 from the first leg. Sunday’s return in Germany offers a chance to compensate for what Emma Hayes regards as significant underachievement.
“We were beaten by a quality team but we gave them three easy goals,” says Chelsea’s coach, who, on top of expecting twins in June, is determined to beat City to the Women’s Super League title and overcome Arsenal in next week’s Women’s FA Cup final.
“It was our third game in a week, we’d lost a couple of players to injuries and fatigue crept in so it was a bit of a stretch but the girls were disappointed; they know they’re better than that. It’s going to be tough but we’ll go to Wolfsburg and give everything to turn the tie round. Don’t write us off; anything can happen in football.”
