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Lyon, the defending champions, have been knocked out of the UEFA Women's Champions League at the quarterfinal stage no thanks to an incredibly soft VAR-assisted penalty decision at 120+8' that gave undeserved life to Chelsea.
After taking a 1-0 lead in France last week thanks to Guro Reiten's lone goal, Chelsea did what they largely always do under Emma Hayes in the Champions League by disappointing for 90 minutes.
With Wendie Renard pocketing Sam Kerr, Chelsea went about protecting their slender advantage at Stamford Bridge but Lyon flipped the script after Lindsey Horan created the equalizer for Vanessa Gilles in the 77th-minute.
VANESSA GILLES SCORES THE OPENER FOR LYON
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) March 30, 2023
Then Sara Däbritz seemingly put Lyon through to the semifinals in the 110th-minute of extra time.
SARA DÄBRITZ GIVES LYON THE LEAD IN THE TIE IN EXTRA TIME
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) March 30, 2023
A Chelsea equalizer looked unlikely, but with extra time drawing to a close Lauren James leaned into her defender in the box, went down theatrically (mainly tripping herself) and then relied on VAR to overturn a "missed" decision that was the opposite of clear and obvious.
It was total bullshit, amplified by the English announcers on DAZN calling it a clear penalty. Viewers at home were force-fed a whole bunch of crazy pills.
Maren Mjelde converted the spot kick to send it to penalties.
MAREN MJELDE SCORES IN THE DYING MINUTES FOR CHELSEA TO LEVEL THE TIE UP AND GO STRAIGHT TO PENALTIES!!! #UWCL LIVE NOW ⬇️
https://t.co/mmcaSPfAm3
https://t.co/447lL8xdB4 pic.twitter.com/LB4r03z8T1— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) March 30, 2023
Ultimately, with Chelsea holding a 4-3 advantage, Horan missed the decisive effort.
BERGER SAVES HORAN'S PENALTY AND CHELSEA MOVE ON TO THE SEMI-FINALS OF THE #UWCL! pic.twitter.com/rMBdjvTHA7
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) March 30, 2023
Chelsea now plays Barcelona in the semifinals, and if there are truly football gods, they'll get beat worse than that 4-0 2021 final scoreline.
