Arsenal Women 1-2 Lyon
by Layth Yousif 
at Meadow Park 

A QUICK-FIRE brace from Melchie Dumornay helped Lyon to a powerful victory in front of 3,023 fans on Tuesday evening, after Alessia Russo had put the Gunners in front.

Two goals in five first-half minutes turned this Champions League clash on its head, as the holders lost to Jonatan Giraldez’s impressive eight-time winners.

In a feisty opening Marie-Antoinette Katoto lost her head and was booked for a late challenge on Steph Catley after only six minutes, prior to Russo’s excellent finish 60 seconds later to put the holders ahead.

However, with Renee Slegers side 1-0 up and looking comfortable, an error from keeper Daphne van Domselaar — who fired the ball straight at Dumornay when sloppily attempting to play out from the back under little pressure — saw the Lyon No 6 capitalise on the mistake to level on 18 minutes.

Worse was to come for the home side five minutes later when the predatory Dumornay pounced to fire past a static van Domselaar and into the net to make it 2-1, as the French side the Gunners had beaten in last season’s semi-finals on the way to lifting the trophy for a second time, gained revenge of sorts. 

“I think we had a good start, [but] Lyon are a very, very strong team,” Slegers said after the match, adding: “They have so much physicality and individual strength.”

Robust Lyon could have made it three moments before half time, but Katoto’s header was gathered by van Domselaar, to make it six efforts on goal from the forceful visitors to underline the momentum shift after falling behind. 

Arsenal started with intent after the break with Mariona Caldentey’s drive being tipped over the bar by Lyon keeper Christiane Endler but, despite a raft of substitutions by Slegers throughout the second half in a bid to wrestle back the initiative, the Gunners simply couldn't find a way through their compelling opponents who top the French league.

To make matters worse, Russo ended the game with an ice pack on her right knee, after being replaced by Stina Blackstenius with 15 minutes remaining to cap a bad few weeks for Arsenal, after losing 3-2 at Manchester City last time out, as well as failing to beat Aston Villa in N5 the weekend before. 

The challenges keep coming up for Slegers side, now without a win in four matches, mired in fifth place in the WSL, already five points adrift of leaders Chelsea, when facing Brighton in north London on Sunday, prior to a trip to Lisbon to face Benfica at the mighty Stadium of Light next week, before the “respite” of October’s international break. 

“Everyone’s working really hard to find that final action, that final detail and find the margins, because it is about margins, but it will always be about margins at the highest level,” reflected Slegers after the match.

Judging by their inconsistent results, Arsenal will certainly need to regroup in a bid to arrest their alarming early season slump, before their blip becomes a major problem.