Benstiti lauds Lyon's fighting spirit

Olympique Lyonnais coach Farid Benstiti said his side would proudly fly the flag in Madrid next month after going one better than their male counterparts and reaching the UEFA Women's Champions League final. They will face 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam in Getafe on 20 May, two days before the men's decider, though for Umeå IK boss Joakim Blomqvist it could all have been different had Hanna Pettersson not been carried off with an ankle injury midway through the first half. Without her, the home side never looked like ending Lyon's hopes at this stage for the second time in three years and a goalless draw meant the tie finished 3-2.

Farid Benstiti, Lyon coach
Umeå's game does not suit us. Matches against them are always physically hard and they play a long-ball game. But we have worked hard in training to prepare for that type of approach. This was nothing like the match two years ago. We have different players, Umeå have different players.

We were very sad to see the men lose. For the history of the club it would have been fantastic for both men and women's teams to reach the final. Now, thanks to the girls, the name of Olympique Lyonnais will be heard around the world. Potsdam are a very good team but they play like us. They have good attacking players, like we do. In a final anything is possible.

Joakim Blomqvist, Umeå coach
We lost a dimension to our game when Hanna Pettersson was forced off. It was a cruel loss, because Hanna and Sofia [Jakobsson] were really starting to find each other on the pitch. In fact, the whole team started brightly. We'd talked about getting an early goal, but when first Hanna had to be taken off and then we couldn't score it was hard going. We were good in defence but couldn't apply enough pressure in attack.