The bad afternoon of the Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Barbora Votíková, with three blunders, caused her team to lose to Olympique Lyon, who won 3-2 with a brace by American Catarina Macario to take the lead in the semifinals of the Women’s Champions League.
LYO
PSG
lyons
Endler; Carpenter, Buchanan, Renard, Bacha (Morroni, 66′); Henry, Macario, Horan; Cascarino (Laurent, 92′), Hegerberg and Malard (Le Sommer, 66′).
PSG
Votikova; Lawrence (De Almeida, 86′), Ilestedt, Dudek, Karchaoui; Fazer (Folquet, 79′), Geyoro, Däbritz; Diani, Katoto and Baltimore (Bachmann, 77′).
goals
0-1 M. 6 Katoto. 1-1 M. 23 Renard (pen.). 2-1 M. 34 Macario. 3-1 M. 51 Macario. 3-2 M. 58 Dudek (pen.).
referee
Ivana Martincic (Croatia). TA: Geyoro (13′) and Karchaoui (64′).
Incidents
Olympique Lyonnais Park. 25,000 spectators.
With Barcelona with more than a foot and a half in the final after thrashing Wolfsburg 5-1, the candidate to dispute the title against the Barça team will come out of a tie that, for now, will be marked by the performance of Votiková.
The Czech goalkeeper gave Olympique Lyon three goals that were key in the final result. Two of them were marked by Macario, who did not miss the gifts of his rival, who will surely not forget a game in which he hampered Paris Saint-Germain’s chances of reaching the final of the continental competition.
Votíková premiered his catalog of failures after twenty minutes, when missed an easy shot from Melvine Malard. The rejection was picked up by Malard herself, who was mercilessly run over by the Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper. The penalty was converted by Wendie Renard to equalize a clash in which the Parisian team went ahead after six minutes thanks to a great movement inside the area of Marie Antoinette Katoto.
Votíková’s ‘show’ had only just begun. The worst parts were still to come and, in them, Macario would appear so as not to miss out on the gifts from the Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper. The 2-1, he caused it with a painful goal kick. He threw it loose, straight at Ada Hegerberg’s boots, who could comfortably pass the ball to Macario. The American forward, in a heads up, did not fail and put Lyon ahead.
The “exhibit” did not end there. And it is that, almost as soon as she left the locker room to play the second part, Votíková added another failure to her recital. This time, in collaboration with the Polish Paulina Dudek. Macario appeared from the edge of the area, Dudek guessed his rival’s break, stole the ball and passed it to Votíková. The Czech goalkeeper went to clear, she hesitated, Dudek appeared, the ball went under her legs, stopped her right on the line, and instead of clearing, she froze.
Macario, the smartest in the class, followed the play attentively and appeared out of nowhere to finish off another ridiculous play with which Lyon raised the score to 3-1. An opportunist like no other, he added his seventh goal in the competitiontwo less than Tabea Wassmuth (Wolfsburg) and three less than Alexia Putellas (Barcelona).
At least Dudek was able to make up the result. Like Renard, he scored from the penalty spot and Paris Saint-Germain will have a real chance of reaching the final. Despite Votíková’s mistakes, he is only one goal behind.