Lyon 1-5 Arsenal: Gunners stun Champions League holders with brilliant away performance

Arsenal laid down a stunning marker for their Women’s Champions League campaign by thumping holders Lyon in France.

Lyon pulled one back through Melvine Malard, however Beth Mead restored the two-goal advantage with a powerful free-kick.

Quickfire second-half goals from Foord and Mead completed a brilliant win.

The victory gives Arsenal early control of Champions League Group C, while Juventus beat Zurich 2-0 in Wednesday night’s other fixture in the pool.

Yet it is the nature of the success which will send shockwaves through European women’s football.

Lyon had never lost by three or more goals in this competition, and had not conceded more than four in a game for 17 years before this home thrashing.

Magnificent Arsenal make a huge statement

There are few bigger statements a football team can make than beating the holders and Champions League winners in six of the last seven seasons on their own ground in the opening game of the group stage.

Yet that is what Arsenal managed – their first win in six meetings with Lyon – and in truly eye-catching, jaw-dropping style.

Not only did they put five goals past a club crowned European champions more times than any other, they did so with their star striker on the bench and first-choice centre-back pairing absent through injury.

Vivianne Miedema, with 120 goals in 149 games for Arsenal before tonight, was replaced by Maanum, while the Gunners were still without Rafaelle Souza and Leah Williamson as Steph Catley and Lotte Wubben-Moy commanded their defence.

While Catley and Wubben-Moy kept a clean sheet against Reading at the weekend in the Women’s Super League, this game was expected to be a bigger test for them.

Yet it was at the other end where Arsenal really shone.

They deservedly took a 13th-minute lead when a long ball reached Stina Blackstenius, who played a great first-time pass across the box which Foord steered home.

Shock Miedema exclusion justified

Maanum then showed why she was selected ahead of Miedema. Good in the final third, she linked up play, continually disrupted Lyon’s forward runs and earned her goal.

It was a bold tactical call by Eidevall, one which would have seen him questioned had Lyon won, but the Norwegian midfielder repaid her manager’s faith.

Eidevall introduced Miedema for her 150th Arsenal game in the final 10 minutes for little more than a lap of honour as her team-mates had long since ensured Lyon would suffer just their second loss in 83 home games.

They claimed the second goal in the 22nd minute when Blackstenius broke through, but was denied by Lyon goalkeeper Christiane Endler. Maanum, though, was there to collect the rebound and roll it into the net past the covering defenders.

It meant Lyon trailed by more than one goal in the Champions League for the first time since April 2009 – and they looked like a side that had been affected by injuries.

Ada Hegerberg, Catarina Macario, Dzenifer Marozsan, Sara Dabritz, Ellie Carpenter and Griedge Mbock were all missing, but it was still an impressive squad, with Eugenie Le Sommer, Lindsey Horan and Wendie Renard among the starters.

They rarely made that quality tell though, and even their goal was fortunate as Horan deflected Selma Bacha’s corner on to the crossbar and Malard tucked in the rebound.

Good week for Mead gets even better

It was Arsenal’s night and, as so often in 2022, it was Mead’s game which everyone else was playing in. The Euro 2022 winner and Women’s Ballon d’Or runner-up was in scintillating form again, constantly getting the better of Bacha on the wing.

She struck her free-kick goal low to the keeper’s left, a powerful finish that Endler could not keep out.

Blackstenius would have made it 4-1 on the hour mark had her 10-yard shot not struck a team-mate.

Instead it was Foord who got her second with the pick of the bunch. Renard badly mishit a clearance under no pressure and Arsenal’s Australian international calmly took the ball down and fired a 25-yard curler into the bottom corner.

Mead was then played through as Lyon’s defence fell apart, leaving a gaping hole for the England international to step through and smash a finish past Endler for her second goal.

Lyon’s misery was summed up in stoppage-time as Horan headed against the post from a free-kick, before the rebound was thrashed well wide.

Last season’s Champions League campaign was one to forget for Arsenal as they shipped four goals home and away to Barcelona and Hoffenheim, before being dumped out by Wolfsburg.

On the basis of their dazzling display, though, this could be one to remember.