That’s all from me. It was extremely ordinary for a long time, and then, suddenly, it was completely extraordinary. Bye!
Wolfsburg go up to collect their runners-up medals, through a guard of honour formed by their victorious opponents. The defeat must be all the more painful for the 100 or so seconds of joy that came between their taking the lead and Popp getting sent off.
“My player of the match is Cascarino,” writes Hubert O’Hearn. She was indeed excellent. The quality of Lyon’s bench decided the game, really. “What a dynamo. Keep hoping she can claim Irish heritage the same as Tony did.”
Van de Sanden is getting particular attention from her team-mates, as Lyon’s players celebrate their victory. And well she might, she was absolutely unplayable.
Final score: Wolfsburg 1-4 Lyon
120 mins: And that’s it! Lyon win the Champions League! Again!
119 mins | Wolfsburg 1-4 Lyon Pajor gets behind the Lyon defence, but her low shot isn’t hard enough to beat Bouhaddi.
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119 mins | Wolfsburg 1-4 Lyon Abily exchanges passes with Cascarino before shooting from an acute angle straight at Schult.
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GOAL! Wolfsburg 1-4 Lyon (Abily, 116 mins)
Abily, making her final Champions League appearance at the age of 33, scores with a fine, precise finish from 16 yards. Van de Sanden gets another assist.
115 mins | Wolfsburg 1-3 Lyon Hegeberg is played in, but her low shot is saved by Schult with her legs. Lyon could easily have scored half a dozen goals in extra time.
114 mins | Wolfsburg 1-3 Lyon A final substitution sees Camille Abilly come on, in place of Le Sommer.
113 mins | Wolfsburg 1-3 Lyon Cascarino sends a weak shot looping into Schult’s arms. Meanwhile, replays show an earlier Van de Sanden cross hitting the outstretched arms of, I tthink, Wedemayer.
109 mins | Wolfsburg 1-3 Lyon Van de Sanden is played in again, and this time her low cross is just too far ahead of Hegerberg. Wolfsburg clear, and Bronze has a low shot from range, easily saved.
108 mins | Wolfsburg 1-3 Lyon Renard trips Pajor, and is booked. The free kick goes into the area, and is booted back out again.
106 mins | Wolfsburg 1-3 Lyon Wolfsburg have another shot on target! This one doesn’t go in, Kerschowski’s effort from wide on the left floating into Bouhaddi’s arms. “Football matches, snowflakes and fingerprints – no two the same,” writes Hubert O’Hearn. Poetry, that is.
106 mins | Wolfsburg 1-3 Lyon And for the final time, they’re off!
Half time in extra time: Wolfsburg 1-3 Lyon
105+1 mins | Wolfsburg 1-3 Lyon A totally remarkable quarter-hour, and this surely is Lyon’s trophy now. Surely?
105+1 mins | Wolfsburg 1-3 Lyon Harder runs towards the penalty area, and Renard arrives to completely wipe her out. Play on, says the referee, unaccountably.
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105 mins | Wolfsburg 1-3 Lyon “Why did Lyon not start with Van de Sanden?” wonders Sean Miller. “Obviously the red card helped but her introduction completely changed the game!” It’s almost worth playing out a totally sterile 90 minutes just so you can then unleash Van de Sanden against an already-knackered defence. What a phenomenal, game-changing introduction it’s been.
GOAL! Wolfsburg 1-3 Lyon (Hegerberg, 103 mins)
And that, surely, is that. Van de Sanden goes down the right again, her cross picks out an unmarked Hegerberg, and she scuffs her shot but it doesn’t matter, as it bounces past Schult and in!
101 mins | Wolfsburg 1-2 Lyon After 98 unremarkable minutes, the first 10 of extra time couldn’t have crammed in any more drama.
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100 mins | Wolfsburg 1-2 Lyon Crikey, though, Van de Sanden is rapid.
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GOAL! Wolfsburg 1-2 Lyon (Le Sommer, 99 mins)
Van de Sanden bursts down the right, crosses low, and Le Sommer turns it in from close range!
GOAL! Wolfsburg 1-1 Lyon (Henry, 98 mins)
Lyon score an excellent equaliser! Hegerberg’s chipped through-ball is excellent, Henry’s first touch is superb, and then she lashes the ball into the top corner!
97 mins | Wolfsburg 1-0 Lyon Lyon have two chances in a few seconds. Van de Sanden (who has just come on for Kumagai) has a low, first-time shot saved, and from the corner Renard heads over from six yards!
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Red card! Wolfsburg are down to 10 women!
95 mins | Wolfsburg 1-0 Lyon Popp flies in to challenge Cascarino, who flicks the ball away and is totally taken out! That’s a second yellow card, and just bewildering from Popp.
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GOAL! Wolfsburg 1-0 Lyon (Harder, 93 mins)
Wolfsburg have scored with their first shot on target! And it wasn’t even a good one! Harder collects the ball inside her own half, runs towards the penalty area, turns onto her left foot and hits a fairly rubbish shot that flicks off Renard’s thigh and rolls inside the post!
91 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon They’re off! Yet again!
Wolfsburg have had two shots in total, and none on target. This really is quite damning, given that they have had some decent attacking positions. Lyon have had 15 shots, of which six have been on target. As they prepare for extra time, Bouhaddi is having her left wrist strapped up quite heavily. On the downside, this will hinder her shot-stopping. On the plus side, she hasn’t needed to do any shot-stopping. Still, there may be penalties.
Score at 90 minutes: Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon
90+8 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Lyon keep pushing to the end, but they can’t find a goal (well, other than the one they scored but the referee didn’t award), so we’ll get another half-hour.
90+6 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Bouhaddi looks quite unhappy. She is playing on though, for now at least.
90+4 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon By the time Bronze gets up she has some dressing on her neck and cheek. Bouhaddi, meanwhile, is receiving treatment to her left hand.
90+2 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Wolfsburg have a free kick, which they chip into the area. Bouhaddi comes for it, Bronze tries to head it, and the two Lyon players crash into each other.
90+1 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon There will be four minutes of stoppage time, or thereabouts.
90 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Wolfsburg make their final change, bringing Kerschowski on for Dickenmann.
89 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Henry heads meekly at goal, and this looks to be heading for extra time.
86 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Another Wolfsburg player is in pain. This time it’s Goessling, clutching her ankle and looking unhappy. A drink of water later, she has miraculously healed.
83 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon The best chance of the game! And a fine save! Cascarino, who has been excellent at right-back since coming on, bursts down the right and sends in a low cross, and Le Sommer’s first-time shot is saved by Schult.
82 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Given the number of goals these two teams have scored this season, their apparent cluelessness in attack really is shocking. There has been plenty of good defending from both sides – Fischer and Mbock standing out, but with competition – but also a lot of poor decision-making and technique in attacking areas.
80 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Another booking, shown to Maritz for totally clearing out Cascarino.
79 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Apparently that is their second shot. I’m afraid I missed the first.
78 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Harder has a shot! Wolfsburg have had a shot! It went over, and really she should have passed, but still – a shot!
78 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon The official attendance is 40,237, which is impressive. They haven’t been treated to an exhibition of fine attacking play.
74 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon A chink of light for Wolfsburg. Dickenmann has the ball, just outside the area. Beyond the far post, a team-mate has her arms raised and stands in a lot of space. Dickenmann pauses, though, and is swiftly dispossessed.
73 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Majri just did a lovely turn. The whole ground ooed in appreciation. It’s the best thing that’s happened tonight. It didn’t lead to anything, but it was very pretty.
72 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Another booking, for Popp’s foul on Henry.
72 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Well, definitely is perhaps overstating things. Most probably a goal. Almost certainly a goal.
71 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon I’ve seen the replays, and that was definitely a goal. And the game really needed one.
69 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Lyon don’t score, but it must have been very close! A corner from the left is headed goalwards and Henry, five yards out, flicks the ball on, but somehow it’s cleared off the line. Maritz hacked it away, and that initially looked in to me. There is no goalline technology in play.
68 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Dickenmann runs into the area and the pass finds her, but Cascarino covers the run well. The players run into each other, Dickenmann falls over and the attack peters out.
67 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Bronze races 20 yards to nick the ball off a Wolfsburg player and feeds Henry, whose shot is deflected wide. Lyon have been much the better side in this half, but the quality of their play inside the penalty area has been poor.
65 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon The recently-cautioned Bacha is taken off, and Cascarino comes on.
63 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon The corner goes to the far post, where Mbock heads over.
63 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon A nice ball into the area finds Hegerberg, but her first touch is terrible and she ends up with no more than a corner.
62 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Popp, meanwhile, appears to have fully recovered from whatever it was.
61 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon A yellow card! And it goes to Bacha, for tugging at Wullaert’s arm.
60 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Now Popp stretches for a challenge, and stays down. Lyon break, and the move ends with Le Sommer shooting low and slow, down the middle of goal.
56 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon She refuses to let herself get put on a stretcher, but it takes two people to help her to the touchline. Wedemeyer replaces her.
55 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon With nobody anywhere near her, Gunnarsdottir pulls up and goes down. She looks in real pain, and that’s her night over.
53 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Le Sommer carries the ball towards the Wolfsburg area, until Popp arrives and barges her in the back. Le Sommer goes down, and the referee waves play on.
49 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Lyon repeatedly refuse to clear the ball, giving the ball away instead, and Wolfsburg repeatedly refuse to hit a cross anywhere but straight into a defender. Finally, the referee’s assistant gets bored of the whole business and raises her flag when nobody was offside.
46 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon They’re off! Again!
A substitution: Tessa Wullaert has come on for Wolfsburg, replacing Hansen.
The players are on their way back out.
Lyon have had six shots, two on target. Wolfsburg haven’t even chanced their arm.
Half time: Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon
45 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon No need for stoppage time, as there have hardly been any stoppages. It’s half time, with neither attack quite sparking as yet.
43 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Mbock hits an excellent crossfield pass from deep – she’s done this a few times, to good effect – to Le Sommer, whose first-time pull-back goes straight to Schult.
43 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Wolfsburg’s defensive positioning, on the other hand, is pretty impeccable. Majri attempts a curler from outside the area, but Fischer is in the way.
40 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon So, 40 minutes played and there’s been one decent chance, plus a possible penalty for which Wolfsburg didn’t even appeal. Lyon’s defence might look disorganised at times, but Renard and especially Mbock appear to be excellent firefighters and are always on hand to snuff out danger.
35 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Half-chance for Lyon! The cross is from deep on the right, and Hegerberg’s header is saved.
24 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Lyon’s defence, however, still looks a little worring. Pajor gets into the area and has a chance to create something, but Mbock comes across to win first the ball and then a free kick.
31 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Lyon’s best work is all coming down their left, where Majri and Bacha are combining well if not yet delivering defence-beating crosses.
28 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Wolfsburg go close! Harder runs forward from midfield and pokes the ball into the area, where Bacha slides in to excellently intervene. Meanwhile, I’m not listening to Jonathan Pearce but Hanson references are all good, as far as I’m concerned.
@Simon_Burnton is Jonathan Pearce deliberately calling the Lyon CB Mmbop so he can make a Hansen Mmbop joke? Or is it my ears?
— Nick Piggott (@P1ggott) May 24, 2018
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24 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Marozsan’s deflected shot from outside the area spins and swerves and is well caught by Schult.
23 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon A fine crossfield pass finds Majri bursting into the box, but Blässe executes a perfect sliding challenge to dispossess her.
23 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon So Mbock is playing for Lyon, and Hansen for Wolfsburg.
19 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Bronze wins the ball on the right with a challenge that was only just legal, but then wildly overhits her cross.
18 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Chance for Lucy Bronze! Bacha does well on the left to win a corner, which is headed to Bronze, almost exactly on the penalty spot, who volleys wide.
15 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Wolfsburg very easily pass the ball through Lyon’s midfield and have three on three in attack. Their build-up is a bit slow, but the French side’s defence seems understaffed and a bit disorganised. It all ends, though, in an overhit cross from Maritz, caught by the goalkeeper.
13 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon A decent move from Lyon ends with Hegerberg being found in an offside position.
10 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Wolfsburg hit a high ball into the area, and Bouhaddi races off her line, gets nowhere near the ball, Gunnarsdottir heads it before she gets there and the goalkeeper clatters into the back of the Wolfsburg player. How that wasn’t a foul – and thus a penalty – I do not know.
8 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Now Wolfsburg launch an attack – Popp wins the ball in the final third, gets to the byline on the left and crosses just too far ahead of the striker!
6 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon And they should have scored! The ball is chipped into the box, Popp’s clearing header is poor and it falls to Henry, 15 yards out, whose shot is heading wide anyway when it hits a body and bounces to safety.
5 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon Griedge M’Bock is tripped, 40 yards from goal, and Lyon will have a chance to stick it in the mixer.
3 mins | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon A little earl sparring from both teams, with action so far confined to the flanks (except for the brief moments taken to transfer the ball between flanks).
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1 min | Wolfsburg 0-0 Lyon It’s on!
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Lyon are going to kick off. Really soon.
The players have shaken hands and listened to anthems, and we are now moments away from action.
Tayanna is off, and the players are on!
She’s quite good, but I’m confused by the way her belt connects to her boots. This is not a combo that I’m familiar with.
“Ukrainian pop sensation Tayanna” is currently performing.
It’s on! And I’m delighted to report that the opening ceremony is in progress.
Kick-off is but 12 minutes away, and the BBC’s promised coverage has yet to begin. It better had, and sharpish, otherwise I’m going to be in a spot of bother. Still, they are showing Loughborough Trophy tennis.
I know what you’re wondering – what’s on the flipchart? Well, apparently Lyon are looking for “echauffement” and “vivacité”. And they’re also planning to play three five-a-side teams, which seems tactically puzzling.
Uefa have made the players stay at home by making large versions of their club badges and sticking them on the dressing-room floor. I can’t for the life of me see why.
The teams!
The team sheets are in, and look like this:
So starten unsere Wölfinnen ins #UWCLfinal gegen @OL! 💪🔥 #WOBOLY #VfLWolfsburg pic.twitter.com/pHXEsExHLM
— VfL Wolfsburg (@VfL_Wolfsburg) May 24, 2018
#UWCLfinal Notre équipe évoluera en 4-3-3 ce soir ! 🔴🔵 pic.twitter.com/TwDTn2LOvJ
— Olympique Lyonnais (@OL) May 24, 2018
Music news: If you’re in need of a soundtrack for the hour between now and kick-off, Wolfsburg’s Tessa Wullaert has handily put together a Spotify playlist.
Hello world!
It’s the week’s first Champions League final, between Lyon – who won their first two of four ties on their way to this showpiece by an aggregate score of 30-0, that’s thirty goals to none, and their last two by a more demure 4-1 – and Wolfsburg, whose four ties have been won by the rambunctious combined scoreline of 33-7.
So, you may be wondering, just how good are these teams? Well, Lyon have won the last two Champions League titles, beating Wolfsburg (on penalties) in the 2016 final, and four of the last seven. Wolfsburg have won two of the remaining three, beating Lyon 1-0 in the 2013 final. The midfielder Lara Dickenmann was in both the Wolfsburg side that lost to Lyon and the Lyon side that lost to Wolfsburg, and is expected to be in the Germans’ starting line-up today.
Wolfsburg have already won their domestic title, following up on the one they won last year; Lyon have already won their domestic title, following up on the ones they one last year, and the year before that, and for each of the last 12 – twelve – seasons. Wolfsburg have scored 2.75 goals per league game this season, and conceded 0.3; Lyon’s average league game has ended in a 4.666-0.24 victory.
A few more Lyon goalscoring facts, because they are so ridiculous: Their top scorer, Ada Hegerberg, has thumped in 51 goals in 30 games this season. Lyon will play Paris St-Germain in the French Cup final on 31 May, having won the five games in their cup run by a combined score of 56-0. Fifty-six goals to nil. Between 24 September and 5 February they won 16 consecutive games in all competitions without conceding a goal (aggregate score: 102-0).
Both teams are, in short, extraordinarily good and used to handing out gleeful thumpings. What they are not used to, however, is facing teams quite as good as each other.
Britwatch: Chelsea and Manchester City were both beaten in the semi-finals but there are still a couple of Englishwomen to keep an eye on. Lucy Bronze, once of City and now of Lyon, scored the goal that eliminated her former club in the last round, and the assistant referee Sian Massey will be running a line.
Useful officiating fact: the referee, Jana Adamkova, played for the Czech Republic in her pre-whistle-blowing days.
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