Lyon edge Arsenal 2 1 in first leg of women s Champions League semis

LONDON - `Olympique Lyonnais beat Arsenal 2-1 in the first leg of their womens Champions League semi-final on Saturday after Melchie Dumornay grabbed a winner in the 82nd minute to give the record eight-times champions the upper hand in the tie.

Lyon had gone in front after 17 minutes thanks to Kadidiatou Diani but Arsenal equalised through Mariona Caldenteys penalty.

Lyon coach Joe Montemurro, who managed Arsenal for four years and led them to a Womens Super League title, made a winning return though as his team were hit with wave after wave of attacks in the second half before Dumornays finish.

Arsenal wasted several chances while Lyon were steadfast in defence, giving Renee Slegers side a lot of work to do in the return leg on April 27 if they are to prevent the French club from reaching their 12th final in the competition.

We grew into the game, we knew it was going to be a hard challenge. Lyon are a hard team to beat and they have a lot of quality, Slegers told DAZN.

We created chances and got numbers in the box, we just couldnt get the ball in the net.

We are not going to change those things in a week. We have been really good with our clinical finishing before. I trust the team that we can score those goals from those opportunities.

Lyon took the lead when Diani was set through on the right wing and the French forward drilled her shot across Manuela Zinsberger in Arsenals goal to find the far bottom corner.

The assistants flag went up for offside to draw a roar from the home crowd but that quickly turned to groans when VAR confirmed Diani was onside by mere inches.

Arsenals best chance came at the half-hour mark when