Sonia Bompastor's side came into the game to cause an upset and it looked to go that way, but Lyon bowed out of the Champions League after a late penalty controversy saw them lose their penalty shootout at Stamford Bridge.
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Reflecting on the game
“I feel disappointment, frustration and injustice. I think my girls played the way we wanted them to, they stuck to the game plan, playing with their heads and their hearts.
“We showed a lot more than we had done as a team in the first leg back in Lyon, and to be a side that is capable of being two up with not much time to go in an away leg at a place like Stamford Bridge shows what a great performance it was.”
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On the penalty controversy
“Of course, I’ve seen the images, it’s important that I take a good look. I think the referee made the right decision in a live setting, as she was obliged by VAR to have a look.
“I think it’s important that in the men’s and women’s game when they’ve been called over to look at it, it’s tough for them to go against what they originally thought.
“Chelsea had resorted to playing long balls into the box, hoping for a second ball or something to happen in the box. James had the opportunity, she fell and that’s cool, but I still felt that it wasn’t a foul and maybe VAR has it wrong and the decision has been made wrong overall.”
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On the mindset coming into the tie, and looking back over the two legs
“Last week we came off the pitch in the first tie and decided between ourselves that clearly, this is a game of two legs. That would entail scoring at least once here and we had to have a very precise game plan.
“It wasn’t just tactically, we had to have the right mental approach here as well. I think that involved putting Chelsea under as much pressure as we could early into the game, in order to cause them to wobble a little bit under our pressure, and I think we carried that out well.
“The start to the game was really good, we had some big chances in the first half, Bruun and Cascarino couldn’t quite manage to put those chances away, but I was really proud.
“I’m very proud of my girls as they carried out the game plan with such exactitude.
“We weren’t at our best level in the first leg, and we weren’t effective enough in front of the goal. I think that’s ultimately cost us over the two legs with our elimination tonight.”
Vicky Becho clipped Lauren James in the penalty area, leading to the Chelsea equaliser. Bompastor commented on how this won’t be a setback for the young talent and will be a learning point.
“It’s always tough in these difficult moments in the heat of the moment. It’s hard to find the right words to comfort a player, Vicky is a very young player with a great future.
“She is devastated, but the main thing now is that we show solidarity with her, not just tonight but over the next couple of days.
“She’ll soon learn as a professional at this level to roll with the punches and enjoy the good moments when they are there and learn to cope with the tougher times.
“Over the next few days, it’s my job to help the girls to get over this tough moment, but she’ll see it as part of her apprenticeship at the club.”
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English dominance
No French teams have progressed into the semi-finals after rivals PSG were knocked out by Wolfsburg. This will be the first time that two English sides have reached the semi-finals in a women’s Champions League tournament, with Bompastor commentating on the rise of English football.
“I referred to this yesterday in the pre-match conference – I love to watch football and I’ve watched all these quarter-finals and I very much enjoyed Arsenal’s performance last night. I feel like they have a really good chance of getting to the final.
“Chelsea is an effective side, they are efficient in transitions and turnovers and are a team comfortable defending. In the two ties, I wouldn’t say they were head and shoulders above us, but obviously, a club like Lyon will take a moment to look back at the game and analyse it.
“You can say English football is on the rise, it's exploding on the scene if you like. But, we’ll keep working hard, taking the positives out of French football moving forward.
“Lyon is a club which are ambitious, we want to win titles and of course, we will question when things go wrong when we don’t win.”
