Wolfsburg Women v Lyon Women Betting Preview – UEFA Champions League 24th May at 8.00pm
For the third time Wolfsburg and Lyon will be meeting in the Final of the Women’s UEFA Champions League. This is being played on Thursday night in Kiev and it is a showdown between the two heavyweights of the women’s game in Europe. Lyon are the reigning continental champions and they are looking to secure their third straight title. Will Wolfsburg be able to deny them?
Wolfsburg Women News and Form
Wolfsburg will be making their fourth appearance in the Final of the UEFA Women’s Champions League this season. They were successful in two of their previous three attempts, winning in back-to-back years in 2013 and 2014, but missing out two years ago when they met Lyon. Wolfsburg started their campaign with a 15-2 aggregate win over Atletico Madrid, before producing a comfortable win over Fiorentina in the round of 16. Wolfsburg had another easy round when they beat Slavia Prague 6-1 on aggregate in the quarter-finals. In the semi finals they went up against English side Chelsea in what was expected to be close tie, however the Germans powered their way through 5-1 on aggregate.
Their key player is Pernille Harder who is one of the greatest in the game at the moment and she is currently their top scorer in this season’s UEFA Champions League with seven goals. She has been backed up well by Sara Björk Gunnarsdóttir who has six goals during her campaign. Another of Wolfsburg’s elite is Germany forward Alex Popp who scored in the 2016 final against Lyon. Although neither of these have really given up a lot of goals during their respective Champions League campaigns this season, both teams to score at Bwin is going to be a pretty solid option to consider. Popp along with current teammates Luisa Wensing, Lena Goessling, Anna Blässe all appeared in their final successes in 2013 and 2014. All but Wensing started two years ago in the final so Wolfsburg can boast some good experience in their squad.
Lyon Women News and Form
However, it is going to be no mean feat in stopping the powerful French unit that is Leon. Over 2.5 goals in the game is at 20/21 odds* (Betting Odds taken at 11:28 p.m. on May 22nd, 2018) at Bwin. The goals that Lyon scored in the first couple of rounds of this season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League is just staggering. They beat Medyk Konin 14-0 on aggregate and produced even more when they met BIIK-Kazygurt in the round of 16, the French outfit producing a 16-0 aggregate success. It was that easy for them, things were dialled back a little bit in the quarter-finals when they had to go up against Barcelona, with Lyon winning 3-1 on aggregate. Then came their toughest challenge as they met up with Manchester City at the semi-final stage of the competition.
The first leg ended in a 0-0 tie in England before Lyon won through with a 1-0 home win in the second leg. So that is seven clean sheets that Lyon have collected in their eight Champions League games this season, shipping just the one goal in total. Top goalscorer for them this season in the UEFA Champions League is the incredible Ada Hegerberg with a 14 goal haul. There will also be a big occasion for midfielder Camille Abily in midfield who is the most experienced player ever in the UEFA Women’s Champions League and she is set to retire in the summer so will be hoping to go out in style.
Wolfsburg Women v Lyon Women Head to Head
This will be the third UEFA Women’s Champions League Final contested between Wolfsburg and Lyon. The first meeting was in the 2013 final with the Germans taking a 1-0 victory thanks to Martina Muller netting the only goal of the game from the penalty spot. In the 2016 final Lyon got their revenge as they won 4-3 on a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw. Incidentally, that 2013 final success recorded by Wolfsburg ended the two-year reign of Leon in Europe. It would be the same this way if they were to do it again on Thursday. There was also a meeting in the 2017 quarter-finals with Lyon winning through 2-1 on aggregate.
Wolfsburg Women v Lyon Women Betting Odds*
Wolfsburg 29/10, Draw 12/5, Lyon 11/10* (Betting Odds taken at 11:28 p.m. on May 22nd, 2018)
Wolfsburg Women v Lyon Women Predictions
These are two excellent competitors, and they do look fairly evenly matched. They have had some great scraps between them in previous UEFA champions league final meetings, and once again it looks as if Lyon may just hold the edge. The French side does have a better defence, and that could be the telling factor at the end of the day. Back both teams to score in the match but for Lyon to secure the victory.
