Sid Lowe was in Bilbao, and here’s his report. Enjoy, enjoy ... and thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Nikita Parris will miss the final: she was unlucky to pick up her first yellow, but what on earth was she thinking for the second? However she races onto the pitch to celebrate with her team-mates nonetheless. Lyon cavort in a low-key manner, the collective out on their feet after being forced into plenty of late defence. They’re deserved victors, though, having enjoyed 57% possession and carving out the two best chances of the match: Gunnardsottir’s header and Renard’s winner. PSG at times seemed to be more interested in breaking up play than creating - they gave away 27 fouls this evening - which was strange considering how dangerous they looked when they did attack. Diani was superb again. But Lyon had more players on their game tonight - Majri, Cascarino, Karchaoui and Renard were all magnificent - and they go into Sunday’s final against Wolfsburg.
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FULL TIME: PSG 0-1 Lyon
Lyon are through to their fifth final in a row, their captain Wendie Renard the difference in a tight and occasionally testy match!
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90 min +5: Dudek sends a pea-roller into the arms of Bouhaddi. That will probably be it.
90 min +4: Dabritz takes and finds ... Endler, her goalkeeper, who has come up to make her presence felt. But the keeper can’t control, and Lyon clear.
90 min +3: Diani goes on a rococo ramble down the right and wins a corner off Bacha. The last chance for PSG to force extra time?
90 min +1: The first of five added minutes sees Diani romp up the right, getting the better of Bacha. But she can’t find Katoto in the middle. Lyon half clear, then Diani bowls Bacha to the ground, and the pressure is off.
90 min: Gunnarsdottir handles as she attempts to break up the wing. A free kick for PSG out on the left. Dabritz takes, sending a dismal delivery straight down Bouhaddi’s throat.
88 min: Lyon are clearly extremely nervous. Katoto and Morroni swarm their defence; nobody wants to put their foot through a clearance in case they catch an opponent and give away a penalty. Eventually Van de Sanden arrives to blooter away from danger.
87 min: Renard tries to Beckenbauer her way out of trouble and ships possession. She’s fortunate that Diani carelessly hoicks the loose ball out for a goal kick. Van de Sanden then replaces Marozsan.
85 min: Lyon are sitting back, hoping to hold on to what they’ve got. Too conservative? Kumagai nervously gives away a corner with a clumpish backpass that Bouhaddi has no chance of keeping in. Be thankful that wasn’t on target. Lyon mop up the corner easily enough, but they won’t be looking forward to the next five minutes at all.
83 min: Diani crosses dangerously from the right. Bronze heads clear under pressure from Bruun and Katoto. Dabritz tries to get a shot away from the edge of the box but is quickly closed down. The tension mounts.
81 min: PSG sub a sub, Baltimore making way for Bruun, their quarter-final hero. Baltimore makes no fuss and hides her disappointment, knowing her coach’s plans will have gone up in smoke after the red card.
79 min: Le Sommer is brought down as she makes good along the right flank. Majri floats the free kick diagonally towards Renard, who heads across the face of goal. Le Sommer nearly latches onto the loose ball ... but not quite. PSG are struggling to deal with these free kicks. They should probably stop giving them away, but they’ve been racking up the fouls all evening, and some habits are hard to break.
77 min: Cascarino is replaced by Le Sommer, as Lyon process the repercussions of Parris’s loss of composure.
RED CARD! Parris (Lyon)
75 min: If Geyoro’s second yellow was daft, this is truly idiotic. Parris, already on a yellow, pointlessly clatters into the PSG keeper Endler, competing for a ball she was never going to reach. She immediately holds her head in her hands, knowing full well that a second booking is coming. What a way to miss a big final, should Lyon get there.
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73 min: Karchaoui can’t continue, and she’s replaced by Bacha. Meanwhile the PSG coach Echouafni is booked for complaining a little too loudly about a garden-variety Lyon foul.
71 min: Karchaoui is back up. Lyon launch a long ball down the right. Parris chases, and is crudely shoved in the back by Paredes, who is fuming with frustration right now. A pointless free kick to give away, and she’s very lucky that this time Majri’s delivery, again meant for Renard at the far post, isn’t half as good.
69 min: PSG try to strike back immediately, Diani competing with Karchaoui for Baltimore’s left-wing cross. The defender wins, then goes down with cramp.
GOAL! PSG 0-1 Lyon (Renard 67)
Majri curls the free kick in from the right. Renard rises highest at the far post, and heads confidently down and into the bottom-left corner. What a nightmare minute for PSG!
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66 min: Before the free kick, PSG send on the defensively minded Formiga for Bachmann.
RED CARD! Geyoro (PSG)
66 min: Bronze dribbles with great grace down the inside-right channel. Geyoro hangs out a cynical leg to bring her down. It’s a daft challenge - she’s already on a yellow, and she’s off.
63 min: Diani and Bachmann combine well down the right, but a ball forward to spring Katoto clear catches the striker offside.
62 min: Majri’s up and good to go, no serious damage done by the looks of it.
61 min: Diani curls deep from the right. Bronze, under little pressure but given no shout, slams out for a corner. From the corner, Bachmann drops a shoulder down the left and crosses for Diani, who barges into Majri and concedes a free kick. Pressure off Lyon, though Majri looks to have landed awkwardly on her shoulder. Physio on.
59 min: Katoto spins Buchanan out on the left and zips up the wing. Buchanan does well to get back, forcing Katoto to lay off for Baltimore, who loops harmlessly into Bouhaddi’s arms from the left.
58 min: Lyon stroke it around the middle of the park without really going anywhere.
56 min: PSG push Lyon back. A free kick, then a corner. Then Baltimore drifts down the left and nearly breaks into space, but she doubts herself and checks back, and the window of opportunity closes.
54 min: Nadim, so close to a second yellow in the first half, is replaced by Baltimore.
53 min: The free kick’s floated into the box. Dudek has a crafty pull on Buchanan’s shirt as the ball sails out for a goal kick. Buchanan complains, and she’s got a point. Lyon are on a rolling boil now.
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52 min: Parris goes down, trapped in a pincer movement by Paredes and Dabritz. She complains too loud and long, and goes in the book, which is somewhat harsh seeing she was on the end of a foul that’s been given. Lyon are irritated all right.
50 min: Karchaoui threatens to burst down the left but she’s pulled back by Lawrence. She makes her feelings known to the referee. Lyon are getting irritated at PSG’s no-nonsense approach.
49 min: Katoto dribbles across the front of the PSG box, left to right, before pulling back for Dabritz, who tries a curler towards the top right. It’s all wrong. Goal kick.
48 min: Majri and Geyoro tangle in the centre circle. Just for a second, the situation threatens to escalate, but the ball squirts away and the pair disengage. A slight edge to this game.
46 min: Lyon are on the front foot immediately, Majri skittering down the left and slipping the ball infield for Parris, who drops a shoulder before striding into the box and sending a shot towards the bottom left. Endler has it covered.
Lyon get the second half underway. No half-time changes. A reminder that this gets decided one way or another tonight, so extra time and penalties are very much a possibility.
Half-time entertainment.
HALF TIME: PSG 0-0 Lyon
Nothing happens in it. The teams troop off. Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir should have given Lyon the lead; Nadia Nadim is testing the referee’s patience. Otherwise, it’s too close to call.
45 min: There will be a full minute of added time.
43 min: PSG are coming back into it, after a period of Lyon domination. Diani dribbles hard down the left and hopes to find Bachmann in the middle, but takes too long over the cross, is closed down, and runs the ball out for a goal kick.
42 min: This is tight and tense. Already. Extra time and penalties, anyone?
40 min: Some good work by Morroni down the left wins a corner that PSG waste. Karchaoui goes up the other end, and for the second time she’s stopped in her tracks by Nadim’s cynical check. That really should be a second yellow, but the referee stops at a stern lecture. Any more transgressions and she’s surely for the off.
38 min: Cascarino robs Dudek down the right and draws a foul. An old-school playground hair-tug vaguely reminiscent of Peter Crouch’s antics at the 2006 World Cup. And from the resulting free kick, sent in by Maroszsan, Gunnarsdottir really should score, heading wide left from six yards. She did well to get in ahead of Paredes, but having done the hard work she’s missed a sitter.
36 min: Cascarino sashays down the right again, but is ushered out by a determined Morroni. Cascarino looks Lyon’s most likely lock-picker; she’s causing a lot of problems down this flank.
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34 min: Paris respond well, probing down both flanks, Diani and Katoto making their presence felt. A corner is punched clear by Bouhaddi. Lyon go up the other end, Cascarino crossing from the right, Majri eyebrowing a header wide left. This is great back-and-forth fun.
32 min: Lyon are getting closer and closer. Cascarino swipes a volley towards the bottom right. It’s always going wide, but Endler doesn’t know that, and tips around for a corner. From the set piece, Bronze guides a header towards the top right, but Endler is able to claim.
31 min: Dabritz tugs at Parris’s shirt. PSG are giving away quite a few free kicks at the moment. Parris isn’t happy. “Protect me! Protect me!” she shouts at the ref. Lyon getting irritated at the constant fouling.
29 min: Paredes comes back on. Then Geyoro becomes the second Paris player to go into the book for a clumsy barge on Kumagai.
28 min: Lyon apply some pressure as Paredes gets her knee wrapped. PSG hold out, but the champs are beginning to ask quite a few questions now.
27 min: Paredes is off getting some treatment to a sore knee.
26 min: PSG take the sting out of the game by rolling it around the back awhile. Clever move, with Lyon beginning to impose their class.
24 min: Cascarino has started brilliantly, and here she pulls back a ball she had no right to reach, from the byline to the right of goal. She was so fast, and her pullback so unexpected, that Parris was caught napping. PSG clear, with the champs beginning to apply some pressure.
23 min: Geyoro is good to continue. And it seems she deflected Marozsan’s shot out for a corner, adding insult to injury. It’s hit long, and drops to Renard at the far post. She’s six yards out, but Bronze gets in her way and the chance to poke home is gone.
22 min: Marozsan flashes a snapshot wide left from 25 yards. She accidentally kicks Geyoro on the follow-through, and so the physio comes on to deal with the fallout.
21 min: Cascarino tears down the right again and swings a high cross into the box. Parris can’t get anywhere near it, though it’s looping dangerously close to goal anyway. Endler does very well to claim it at full stretch while backpedalling along her goalline.
20 min: The game gets momentarily scrappy.
18 min: Nadim is booked for cynically hanging out a leg to stop a full-flight Karchaoui. The Lyon full-back was preparing to launch a counter from deep, forcing the PSG player to take one for her team. She doesn’t complain when the ref rushes across to flash yellow.
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16 min: Dabritz slips the overlapping Morroni into acres down the left. There are options in the middle, but she overhits the cross. Goal kick.
14 min: A nice end-to-end feel now. Diani glides at the Lyon defence only to be put off by a wily tug from Marozsan; Majri drives at PSG and wins a free kick that’s wasted. But the game is beginning to flow.
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12 min: So having said that, here she is, latching onto Marozsan’s right-wing cross and swiping for the bottom-left corner. It’s not the fiercest shot, but it does take a deflection, out for a corner. Nothing comes of the set piece, but Parris, the competition’s all-time leading scorer, has made her first announcement of the evening.
11 min: Paris are having the better of things at the moment. Lyon haven’t really got going yet, and they’re struggling to get much gametime in PSG’s half. Parris has barely touched the ball.
9 min: The resulting free kick is no good, failing to beat the first woman, but PSG come straight back at Lyon, Bachmann tiptoeing down the left and nearly getting the better of Bronze. But not quite. Though she drops a shoulder to go past, she runs out of room and it’s a goal kick. This should be a good battle between two excellent players.
8 min: Buchanan clatters into Geyoro out on the Paris left. A chance for the underdogs to load the box.
6 min: An uncharacteristically poor pass in the midfield by Bachmann allows Lyon to flood forward. Marozsan slips a ball down the left for Karchaoui, who is in a lot of space, but wastes the opportunity by shanking harmlessly wide of goal from long distance. A rush of blood from the left-back.
4 min: Cascarino goes on a long run down the right touchline, but eventually runs out of space. A very entertaining high-speed venture along the tightrope, though, and it had PSG on the back foot for a brief second.
3 min: A little bit of space for Nadim out on the PSG right. She floats one into the mixer, but it’s an easy claim for Bouhaddi in the Lyon goal. Both teams just putting out feelers at this early stage.
1 min: An early statement of intent by the ever-excellent Bronze, who outrageously nutmegs Diani while clearing her lines. Talk about calm defending.
Before kick-off, the players take a knee. Black lives matter. And then PSG get the ball rolling.
The teams are out! Both wear their first-choice clobber: PSG in blue with red-and-white stripe, Lyon in white. It won’t be long now.
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In the other semi, Barcelona dominated but Wolfsburg prevailed. Here’s Barry Glendenning’s MBM, and Sid Lowe’s match report.
More tip-top preview material.
Team guides.
Some Covid-19 related news from San Mames. PSG reserve goalkeeper Alice Pinguet yesterday tested positive for the virus, and is isolating as a result. According to BT Sport, she is asymptomatic, and had the virus three months ago.
PSG coach Olivier Echouafni names the same XI selected for the quarter-final win over Arsenal. Lyon’s Jean Luc Vasseur makes two changes from the side named against Bayern Munich last weekend. Sakina Karchaoui and Sara Bjork Gunnarsdóttir replace Amandine Henry, who is struggling with a calf injury, and Eugénie Le Sommer.
The teams
PSG: Endler, Lawrence, Paredes, Dudek, Morroni, Bachmann, Dabritz, Geyoro, Diani, Katoto, Nadim.
Subs: Voll, Criscione, Simon, Cook, Luana, Saevik, Fazer, Baltimore, Bruun, Huitema, Formiga, Khelifi.
Lyon: Bouhaddi, Bronze, Buchanan, Renard, Karchaoui, Gunnarsdottir, Kumagai, Cascarino, Marozsan, Majri, Parris.
Subs: Gallardo, Talaslahti, Bacha, Le Sommer, van de Sanden, Carpenter, Greenwood, Cayman, Taylor, Malard.
Referee: Anastasia Pustovoitova (Russia).
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Preamble
Welcome to our coverage of the second semi-final in this year’s Women’s Champions League. Reigning champions Lyon take on Paris Saint-Germain at the San Mamés Stadium in Bilbao, for the right to face Wolfsburg in Sunday’s final.
Lyon go into the match as favourites. They’re the reigning champions, having won the last four editions of this tournament, and a record six in total. They haven’t been beaten in this competition since November 2014, when they were shocked in the last 16 by ... Paris Saint-Germain. No prizes for spotting the narrative arc up above the streets and houses, flying high.
It’s a tough ask for PSG to bring Lyon’s dominance to an end. This is a repeat of the 2017 final, which Lyon won on penalty kicks. Lyon stuffed PSG in the semis the season before, 8-0 on aggregate. And they’ve won all three of the domestic meetings this year, the latest victory at the French Cup final just a couple of weeks ago.
But all is far from lost for PSG. As well as the aforementioned win in 2014, they tasted victory over Lyon in the 2018 French Cup final. More pertinently, they were excellent against Arsenal in last weekend’s quarter final - Kadidiatou Diani and Marie-Antoinette Katoto were magnificent - while Lyon, by their own lofty standards, were a little underwhelming in seeing off Bayern Munich. They’re also having to do without their star turn Ada Hegerberg, who scored a 16-minute hat-trick in last season’s final rout of Barcelona, but has been sidelined since January with damaged knee ligaments. Nikita Parris is a pretty nifty stand-in, mind.
So will Lyon reach their ninth final? Or can PSG make it for the third time, in the hope of finally winning one? It’s going to be a heck of a ride finding out ... especially as these two don’t half like going to extra-time and penalties. It’s on!
Kick off: 7pm BST, 8pm in the Basque Country.
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