AUDIO: Women from Wolfsburg are shown their limits in Lyon (1 min)
As of: November 11, 2025 11:11 p.m
The VfL Wolfsburg footballers suffered their first defeat of the Champions League season: the Lower Saxony team lost 1:3 (0:2) to France’s record champions on Tuesday evening.
And the second-placed team in the Bundesliga was still very well served. Lyon’s chances in the first half alone would easily have been enough for five goals. OL Lyonnes, as the women from Lyon have been called since they were spun off from Olympique, deservedly celebrated their third success in the third duel in the “Queen’s Class” after seven wins in seven league games.
“We played against a world-class team today. Lyon were by far the better team.”
VfL goalkeeper Stina Johannes
Given the balance of power at Parc OL, it is difficult to imagine that not so long ago both teams were among the absolute best in Europe. After the recent 2-3 defeat against Eintracht Frankfurt in the league, it was the next setback in the “Wolfs” hunt for a title.
Lyon plays Wolfsburg against the wall
The game only knew one direction from the start – towards Wolfsburg’s Stina Johannes’ goal. And it was impressive how the French women created one chance after another. The first big opportunity came after two minutes. Two more revolutions later, the American Korbin Shrader hit the crossbar for the first time.
The “Wolves” played in a 5-3-2 formation against the ball and they didn’t want to make any compromises. Many a time the play equipment was simply threshed forward. But the ball usually returned straight away like a boomerang.
Three hits on the crossbar and two goals for Lyon
The VfL women had no access to the game at all – and mostly just followed behind. In the 18th minute, Shrader hit the crossbar again with her powerful shot from the penalty area. After the third aluminum goal, Wolfsburg’s luck ran out: Johannes had a hand on Lindsey Heaps’ free kick, and Ada Hegerberg scored to make it 1-0 (25′). When Hegerberg’s header made it 2-0 five minutes later, the Wolfsburg goalkeeper had no chance.
Wolfsburg’s only chance ends up on the post
At this point, Lerch’s tactics had to be considered a failure. Instead of looking like “she-wolves,” the Wolfsburg women looked like the proverbial rabbit in front of the snake. Lyon had 14 shots on goal – and hardly fewer big chances – in the first half alone. Only once did it become clear how Lerch had actually imagined the game: a minute before the break, a long ball found center forward Lineth Beerensteyn – and the Dutchwoman failed to hit the inside post.
Damage control after the break
In the second half, Wolfsburg at least managed to control the hosts’ offensive momentum a little. But the VfL women still had little to counter the pace of their former teammate Jule Brand and especially the Haitian Melchie Dumornay.
And even though they now at least appeared more regularly in and around Lyon’s penalty area, OL’s victory was never in danger. Before Beerensteyn scored Wolfsburg’s consolation goal to make it 1:3 (80th) after a fine pass from Ella Peddemors, Wendie Renard had already made the decision. After Lena Lattwein’s jersey tugged against Dumornay, the captain scored from the penalty spot (3-0/72nd).
