Fine margins defined this football match. Just a few centimetres in the key moments. As the OL Lyonnes owner, Michele Kang, celebrated on the pitch, arm-in-arm with her players with the Arsenal squad’s faces a picture of dejection, those tiny differentials will have felt wider than the Rhône that runs through the city. Arsenal’s reign as European champions has ended.
Up in the top tier, overlooking the scene with almost a bird’s-eye view, around 600 Arsenal fans had reason to be proud but ultimately were despondent. It was barely the thickness of a baguette that had kept Jule Brand onside when her late winning goal for Lyonnes was reviewed by the video assistant referee (VAR). In similarly agonising fashion, Arsenal’s Daphne van Domselaar stepped off her line slightly too early when saving a first-half penalty, which Wendie Renard retook and scored. But if those travelling Arsenal supporters were reflecting honestly, Lyonnes were worthy winners.
