**Arsenal**put themselves in pole position to return to the Champions League final, winning 2-1 against **OL Lyonnes**to hold the advantage at the midway mark of their semi-final encounter.
Jule Brand ruthlessly punished an error from the hosts at the Emirates Stadium, and the setback seemed to throw the Gunners off kilter. But they roared back after the restart, getting goals through a Mariona Caldentey set-piece and a neat Olivia Smith strike to take the lead late in the second half.
Story of the Match
Renee Slegers switched six members of the starting eleven she selected in a 2-0 defeat to **Brighton**in the **FA Cup**quarter-final three weeks ago. Steph Catley continues to miss out with a calf injury, but Leah Williamson was fit to start next to Lotte Wubben-Moy while Emily Fox and **Katie McCabe**featured as fullbacks.
**Kim Little**and **Mariona Caldentey**carried on playing as the pivots; Alessia Russo was in the ten behind Stina Blackstenius, whom **Olivia Smith**and Caitlin Foord flanked.
Jonatan Giraldez gave one new player a role in his lineup after the 4-0 win over **Wolfsburg**in the second leg of their quarter-final tie. Sofie Svava swapped in for Salma Bacha on the left of the back four.
Ashley Lawrence, Ingrid Engen, and Wendie Renard remained as the three other defenders. The American trio of Lily Yohannes, Lindsey Heaps, and Korbin Shrader started in the middle of the park. Kadidiatou Diani, Ada Hegerberg, and **Jule Brand**operated as the three forwards.
First Half: Brand Punishes Arsenal Error
The Gunners began more brightly out of the two teams. Williamson would make her impact felt, breaking the lines smartly to set away Smith on the inside right channel, and Wubben-Moy similarly found McCabe from the left to kick off a switch of sides that ended with an attempt from Foord.
The hosts were not afraid of trying to turn the French opposition with deep balls for Blackstenius to chase. The **Sweden**striker swivelled from a throw-in on the left side to try to get down the line, but Renard recovered in a timely manner to give up nothing more than a corner: a let-off for OL Lyonnes.
The buildup from Slegers’ side had been smooth for the first quarter of an hour, but it buckled in a critical moment. Wubben-Moy fed another line-breaking pass through to Foord, who took the ball inside and tried to connect with Smith to her right. However, a turnover followed, and Brand could drive at the heart of the **Arsenal**backline. Williamson watched for the overlap Svava, and Little was easily sidestepped by the forward, who fired the ball through the palms of Daphne van Domselaar.
From there, **Arsenal**looked a little more uneasy in possession. Infield passes to the wingers were not working, Russo was struggling to assert influence in a deeper role as well as she does in the domestic game, and mistakes were creeping into the ball distribution out from the back. A mix-up between van Domselaar and McCabe could have created trouble, but the guests made nothing out of a loose pass.
However, the Gunners would frustrate most attempts from their French opposition to score a second goal, with Wubben-Moy making good work of her duels against Hegerberg. At the other end of the field, Renard would obstruct Blackstenius when the striker tried to break through from a left sided combination with Mariona, and a subsequent delivery saw Foord direct a header wide of the target.
So, the first 45 minutes ended with only one shot on target, and **OL Lyonnes**led in the tie. A technical issue with the referee’s equipment meant that the restart was delayed, but Slegers hoped her side would fire aggressively out of the blocks and bring the finesse required to reward their pressure.
Second Half: Arsenal Fight Back
In the 50th minute, Blackstenius took too long to release Smith in the transition from a press, and a pair of deflected strikes was smothered by retreating black shirts. Seconds later, Little picked up the ball, battling against Renard before tumbling in the danger zone. The referee chose to award a penalty after this incident between the two captains, but the decision was reversed through VAR consultation.
Chances continued to come the way of the hosts: McCabe connected with Foord in the danger zone, and a pullback from the forward found her fellow winger, Smith, whom Christiane Endler denied.
Minutes later, **OL Lyonnes**lost the ball deep in their own third once more, and Mariona reversed a pass to McCabe, courting a foul from Diani. Mariona elected to deliver the ball into the box, and the low trajectory appeared to catch the goalkeeper off guard, who slipped the ball back towards her goal. VAR would offer no reprieve for the visitors, and an own goal was attributed to the scrambling Engen.
Wubben-Moy cleverly clipped the ball over a trailing leg as **Arsenal**piled on the pressure, and the central defender missed the target from the following free kick. Not long later, Giraldez gave the nod to a double substitution to try to shift the dynamics of this contest in the favour of the French team.
Damaris Egurrola entered the pitch in place of Yohannes, and Marie-Antoinette Katoto came on for Hegerberg. Almost immediately, it was Diani who was thrust into the spotlight after Williamson and Little did not recycle cleanly off a long ball. The winger broke free on the counter, hitting the bar.
Slegers sensed the need to make a change: she brought off Williamson, moved McCabe into central defence, and asked Taylor Hinds to fill in as a left back. It was down this side that most of the best work from the Gunners came in the final phase of the fixture, putting the guests on the back foot.
Russo tried to turn the ball towards Blackstenius in the box from the left channel, earning a corner, then Foord found her way into the penalty area, forcing a near post parry from Endler. The left winger kept plugging away, and neat footwork opened up a better angle, but produced the same result.
But the gutsy Gunners would not give up. Smith hounded a Heaps back pass, and Engen wanted to let the ball run to Endler. But the hesitation from the pair left Smith to strike, and she buried the ball into an empty net. The hosts were a goal to the good with only eight minutes of normal time on the clock.
Straightaway, Smith was withdrawn as one of four substitutions for **Arsenal**at the end of the contest. OL Lyonnes could not turn the screw, and they have it all to do in the second leg next Saturday, May 3.