Dominant Lyon Beat Wolfsburg To Win Fifth Straight Women’s Champions League
Kumagai scored after Eugenie Le Sommer had handed the French outfit the lead in San Sebastian, giving Lyon a 2-0 half-time advantage and leaving Wolfsburg with too much to do even if Alexandra Popp did pull one back for the Germans in the second half.
Icelandic midfielder Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir’s late effort made sure of the victory for Lyon, whose fifth consecutive Champions League crown is also their seventh overall, comfortably a record.
A fifth straight title sees them equal the feat achieved by the Real Madrid men’s team between 1956 and 1960, in the early days of the European Cup.
All of Lyon’s seven titles have come in the last decade and this latest triumph confirms their status as the finest club team around even as rivals around Europe step up their investment in the women’s game.
Jean-Luc Vasseur’s team edged out Bayern Munich 2-1 in the quarter-finals at the ‘Final Eight’ in Spain’s Basque Country, played out behind closed doors because of the coronavirus pandemic.
They then claimed a narrow 1-0 win in the semi-finals over domestic rivals Paris Saint-Germain, the team they beat to claim a 14th successive French title earlier this year and defeated on penalties in the French Cup final.
This victory, against
a Wolfsburg side who themselves claimed a German domestic double and were unbeaten in 40 games coming into the final, showcased the depth of their all-star squad.
Lyon were missing four of their biggest stars, with France duo Griedge Mbock and Amandine Henry injured and Norwegian striker Ada Hegerberg — the 2018 Ballon d’Or winner — not fully fit. England forward Nikita Parris was suspended.