Germany internationals Dzsenifer Marozsán, Pauline Bremer und Josephine Henning won the Women’s Champions League with Olympique Lyon last night to win the treble as they capped off a spectacular season. The French league champions and cup winners triumphed 7-6 on penalties after a goalless 120 minutes of football against Paris Saint-Germain in the final. DFB president Reinhard Grindel was present to watch Lyon successfully defend their Champions League title. Olympique lifted the trophy after winning a penalty shootout last year too – only that time it was against VfL Wolfsburg.
Marozsán successfully converted her penalty, but ultimately it came down to goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi who scored the decisive penalty in Cardiff, with the impressive PSG goalkeeper Katarzyna Kiedrzynek hitting her penalty wide of the post. Marozsán had further reason to celebrate after the game, as the long-time Germany player received the UEFA Woman of the Match award.
Grindel congratulates German players and officials
Reinhard Grindel congratulated the Germany internationals and the German officiating team led by Bibiana Steinhaus. “Congratulations to Olympique Lyon on winning the UEFA Women’s Champions League! The team’s win mean that you – Dzsenifer Marozsán, Pauline Bremer, and Josephine Henning, have won the treble with Lyon – a tremendous accomplishment. Well done to the DFB officiating team and Bibiana Steinhaus too, on a great performance in the final.”
The game started off as a cagey affair, and indeed there were few chances on goal, even with Marozsán pulling the strings for Lyon and displaying her class time and time again as she lead the attack. However, Paris were solid in defence and themselves looked to grab the opening goal. After Lyon’s American superstar Alex Morgan (23’) had to come off with a thigh injury, PSG started to find their footing in the game. Lyon had the lion’s share of possession but failed to create any significant chances on goal with it.
The biggest chance of the game thus far came shortly after the restart, when Norway’s Ada Hegerberg reacted quickest to a rebound that came off PSG goalkeeper Kiedrzynek, but her effort went just wide of the far post (53’). This was a wake-up call for Paris, who reacted accordingly with Marie-Laure Delie’s low shot just missing the target (63’). Prior to that, Pauline Bremer came on in the 60th minute, and Lyon put more pressure on to try take a lead into the closing stages of the game. Marozsán’s shot shortly before the whistle for full time flew wide-right of the goal.
German teams eliminated en route to the final
The game remained exciting and wide-open in extra time, with no team emerging as clear favourites before Lyon enjoyed the better ending in the penalty shootout.
The finalists knocked out the two Bundesliga teams in the quarter-final, with Lyon narrowly edging out a win against VfL Wolfsburg, who won the double, whilst Pairs eliminated Bayern München from the competition. The two French heavyweights last faced each other in the domestic cup final before they faced each other in a tightly contested and even duel in the Champions League final.
