OL and PSG will meet in the first league final

Olympique Lyonnais (OL) validated its place for the final of the first league, the French women’s football championship, beating Dijon (4-1), Sunday, May 11, in the semi-finals of the Playoffs. The Fenottes will play the title at home, Friday May 16, against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), as in 2024 (2-1 victory of OL). The Parisians managed to get up a hectic week, which notably cost the coach Fabrice Abriel, winning 3-0, in the evening, against Paris FC (PFC).

Faced with a sparse audience, contained in the front rows of a Groupama Stadium, however enthusiastic, the Lyonnaises, outgoing champions, first took place their science of the goal against their rivals of the day. Eugénie Le Sommer, the best marker in the history of the Rhone club, added a 302^e Unit to its counter, by opening the mark with a powerful strike at the entrance to the opposing surface (1-0, 20^e), taking a disorganized Dijon defense on the back.

An offensive demonstration of the Fenottes, through an implementation of the head of the American Lindsey Heaps (2-0, 45^{E + 2}), then an opportunistic opportunity, at the time of play, seized by the Canadian defender Vanessa Gilles (3-0).

Forbiddenly forbidden for OL

The winner of the 2018 Ballon d’Or, the Norwegian Ada Hegerberg closed the debates (4-0, 86^e), deceiving the Finnish goalkeeper of Dijon, Katriina Talaslahti one final time. The copy would have been perfect without this moment of inattention at the end of the meeting, who saw the Lyonnaises being surprised by the Austrian Viktoria Pinther (4-1, 89^e).

The victory remains without appeal, as the level gap was too pronounced. What Noémie CARAGE, central defender of the Bourguignon club, accepted at halftime: “We knew it was going to be very difficult, here we are against the best team in the championship, even in Europe. »»

If OL left ultra-front of this meeting, the stake was no less size. A misstep would have condemned him to a season without trophy-which has not happened since the year 2020-2021. Beaten on penalties by Reims (0-0; 10 tab at 9) in the knockout stages of the French Cup in mid-January, the Lyonnaises mainly experienced a terrible disillusionment in the Champions League, eliminated by Arsenal in the last square, after an incredible counter-performance, at home, during the return round on April 27 (1-2; 1-4).

Because although having finished widely at the top of the regular season (62 points, 10 more than PSG, 2^e) and unbeaten in the league, the players of coach Joe Montemurro must still, since the establishment of the Playoffs by the French Federation (FFF) in 2024, win two duels cups in order to win an 18^e Championship title.

PSG entrance brand

To do this, it will be necessary to dismiss the players of PSG who avoided a deeper crisis at the club by eliminating, at the Parc des Princes, their local Rivals of Paris FC, a week after a confrontation in the final of the Coupe de France which had turned to the advantage of the latter.

PSG coach Fabrice Abriel – criticized for his results, management and tense relations with the executives Grace Geyoro and Sakina Karchaoui – was put forward on Monday and temporarily replaced by Paulo Cesar, who had been coaching U19s so far. On the same day, an altercation took place between the sports director Angelo Castellazzi and the star attacker Marie-Antoinette Katoto. The center forward, at the end of the contract and on the departure of the club in which she has been playing since her 12 years, stayed on the bench and under her hood throughout the match, under the eyes of the president of PSG, Nasser Al-Khelaïfi, and the coach of the French team, Laurent Bonadei.

For his second match in less than five days on the bench, Paulo César favored a three-time defense with a Karchaoui-Geyor-Groenen environment, who also combined the defensive errors of the players of Sandrine Soubeyrand.

From the start of the match, the PSG attacker Romée Leuchter opened the scoring by taking advantage of a big disagreement between the goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie and the Deja Davis defender, in difficulty the whole meeting (1-0, 2^e).

Paris FC and Clara Mateo, the best scorer in the championship who tried her luck several times without being decisive, have never recovered from this catastrophic start. As a symbol, Sakina Karchaoui released her teammates by doubling the shot on a crossed crossed, which deceived the door of the PFC, not well placed (2-0, 55^e). The French international, not summoned several matches by former coach Fabrice Abriel, celebrated his goal in the arms of his replacement. The PSG Korbin Albert’s offensive midfielder increased the scoring at the very end of the match (3-0, 90 + 1).

This victory is “The response of a week of work in joy and good humor, [l’entraîneur] Paulo brought back a little joy, we must thank him ”welcomed Elisa de Almeida. “The season was complicated, we are not going to hide, it feels good”added the PSG player.

The last of Gaëtane Thiney, in tears

This elimination of Paris FC signs the end of the career of a legend of French women’s football: after nearly 500 games played, and twelve years as international between 2007 and 2019 (163 selections, 58 goals), Gaëtane Thiney, 39, had announced that she would put crampons at the end of the season.

At the final whistle, the whole team hung around the captain, moved to tears, who was still one of the players of the PFC most in sight Sunday evening.

“It was unreal at the end of the match, I will live a very uncomfortable period because I like football”said the attacker, whose last season was crowned by the victory in the final of the Coupe de France, on May 3, the only trophy in his career.

“I am a privileged, I was happy to play 25 seasons at the highest level, to have played until the last second and to have been efficient, you have to see the positive and say that new chapters will open up to me”added Gaëtane Thiney who says she does not yet know in which projects she will invest in, “At the club or elsewhere”.