Lyon, Potsdam win, Arsenal ensure return
Monday, April 25, 2011
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Olympique Lyonnais and 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam both returned to domestic winning ways this weekend following their semi-final victories while Arsenal LFC booked a European return.
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Fresh from booking a UEFA Women's Champions League final place, Olympique Lyonnais kept up their perfect Division 1 Féminine record while their last-four victims Arsenal LFC have ensured a return to Europe alongside newcomers Bristol Academy WFC.
Last season's runners-up Lyon won 3-2 at Arsenal a week ago to set up a rematch of their 2010 final with 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam, having already clinched a fifth straight French title with four games to spare. They made it 19 wins out of 19 on Saturday with a 3-1 victory at Rodez AF, coming from behind with goals by Eugénie Le Sommer, Camille Abily and Louisa Nécib.
In the race to join Lyon in next season's UEFA Women's Champions League round of 32, Montpellier Hérault SC remain ahead of Paris Saint-Germain FC – who are hoping to make their European debut – on goal difference in second place, four points ahead of this season's quarter-finalists FCF Juvisy Essonne with two games left. All three won at the weekend, Montpellier ending a three-match run without a victory.
Potsdam's league season is over with the title secured for the third year running, the early finish due to the FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany this summer. But for non-international players there is a Frauen-Bundesliga Cup and Potsdam have won both their games so far, beating Hamburger SV 4-0 on Saturday and FF USV Jena 4-1 on Monday in Group B, where their next opponents are the team they beat in the UEFA semi-final, FCR 2001 Duisburg.
England's two entrants for next season are now known, unusually the FA Women's Cup finalists as the new summer FA Women's Super League has only just begun. On Sunday Arsenal ensured an eighth straight European campaign by beating Barnet LFC 5-0 with an Ellen White hat-trick, and in Coventry on 21 May the Gunners face Bristol, who beat Liverpool LFC 3-0 a week ago to set up a continental debut.