Lyon 3-2 Paris Saint-Germain: Macario double gives OL semi-final edge

There will be all to play for at the Parc des Princes next Saturday (30 April) after Lyon beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-2 in their UEFA Women's Champions League semi-final opener.

Marie-Antoinette Katoto stunned the OL Stadium crowd with her early goal, but Wendie Renard's penalty on her record-breaking 100th competition appearance, plus a double from Catarina Macario, put Lyon in control before Paulina Dudek pulled one back from the penalty spot.

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Match in brief: French rivals serve up thriller

Marie-Antoinette Katoto struck early for ParisUEFA via Getty Images

Lyon carved out several early chances, but it was Paris who went ahead from their very first effort as Katoto spun smartly inside the penalty area to fire the visitors in front. However, midway through the first half, Paris goalkeeper Barbora Votíková brought down Melvine Malard and Renard converted the subsequent spot kick.

Just past the half-hour, Ada Hegerberg's incisive pass set up Macario to put Lyon ahead – and not long after the interval she scored again, pouncing on a defensive mix-up. Paris were nonetheless given hope when Malard handled the ball and Dudek scored from the spot, boosting their chances of overturning a deficit to knock Lyon out, just as they did in last season's quarter-finals.

Visa Player of the Match: Catarina Macario (Lyon)

Catarina Macario with her award

"For the two goals and her role as playmaker. Macario significantly influenced Lyon's display, pressing very high and creating many difficulties for the Paris defence. Not only did she score the second and third goals, but at the end of the match she was again working hard in defence. Omnipresent."
UEFA Technical Observer panel

Vanessa Tomaszewski, Lyon reporter

After the shock of trailing early on, the hosts capitalised on some uncertain defending and came back into the game through captain Renard's penalty, which raised their confidence before Macario's double and Dudek's consolation. The return game is going to be extremely intriguing at the Parc des Princes.

Ian Holyman, Paris reporter

This was a frustrating but promising performance. The tie could have got away from Paris, but Dudek's penalty has given them real cause for optimism ahead of the second leg at the Parc des Princes, where they'll have the benefit of partisan backing. Defensively, Didier Ollé-Nicolle will be looking for his team to tighten up, but they were more solid in the closing half-hour. Going forward, they troubled Lyon throughout – and Katoto might even have got a late equaliser.

Reaction

Sonia Bompastor, Lyon coach: "We would have liked to have kept the two-goal advantage. We still savour the victory, even if we will have to learn the lessons of this match for the return. We lacked balance. We have a week to recover and be ready."

Wendie Renard, Lyon captain: "My first match was in North Macedonia [a qualifying round tournament in 2007] a long time ago with other players and other coaches. The journey will be beautiful if we go to the final and manage to lift this trophy. I said before the game that 100 is a nice number. It shows my regularity at European level with OL. Now it is anecdotal because I am focused on the team. Yes, it's beautiful – there is work behind it."

Didier Ollé-Nicolle, Paris coach: "We expected a difficult start with our opponents pressing hard. That's what happened, and we weren't calm enough even if we were fortunate enough to open the scoring. After that, we didn't play well enough and mistakes caused us difficulties. The team remained united and reduced the deficit, which is important. We lacked a little spark to equalise but we're only a goal behind. We'll be at the Parc des Princes for the second leg; we'll have great support. We'll need everyone behind us to go and get that qualification."

Catarina Macario, Visa Player of the Match: "A lot of people could have received this award. I am very grateful but am just happy to have got the win. It was a very good match – difficult. We showed our collective strength. I'm happy to have helped the team by scoring two goals. It won't be easy in the second leg."

Paulina Dudek, Paris defender: "We expected a difficult game because every match against Lyon is. We know them very well and vice versa. We knew it would be difficult but there's a second leg to come at the Parc des Princes with our fans. When they're with us, it's easier. We play for them."

Laurina Fazer, Paris midfielder: "We said at the break that we mustn't give up and must play together. We knew it would be tough here. The second leg is at home and we are going to give our all to get that place in the final. It's not over: qualification is still in play. There's only a one-goal deficit; we know everything is still possible. We'll give everything to make our fans proud and put in a great performance."

Wendie Renard receives an award to mark her 100th UEFA club game from UEFA chief of women's football Nadine Kessler and Lyon president Jean-Michel AulasUEFA via Getty Images

Key stats

• Wendie Renard became the first player to reach 100 UEFA women's club competition appearances (all for Lyon).
• Renard's goal was her 31st in Europe, putting the centre-back up to joint-15th in the all-time goal charts.
• United States international Macario has scored in her last eight games for club and country.
• Le Sommer made her 79th competition appearance and Bachmann her 78th, putting them fourth and fifth all time behind Renard, Alex Popp and Camille Abily.
• Lyon are the first team to play in 12 semi-finals.
• This is the sixth tie between Lyon and Paris in this competition, equalling the record of Lyon-Wolfsburg. The second leg will mean they equal the record of ten individual matches, set earlier this season by Chelsea-Wolfsburg.
• The crowd of 22,774 was the eighth biggest of all time in the competition, and the fifth largest outside finals. Of those five, four have come this season and two in this weekend's semi-final first legs.

Line-ups

Lyon: Endler; Carpenter, Buchanan, Renard, Bacha (Morroni 66); Henry, Macario, Horan; D Cascarino (Laurent 90+2), Hegerberg, Malard (Le Sommer 66)

Paris: Votíková; Lawrence (De Almeida 86), Ilestedt, Dudek, Karchaoui; Fazer (Folquet 79), Geyoro, Däbritz; Diani, Katoto, Baltimore (Bachmann 77)