The story of a dramatic night for Chelsea Women as they progress past Lyon in Champions League | OneFootball

Emma Hayes praised her Chelsea players after they overcame Lyon to reach the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona on a dramatic night at Stamford Bridge.

Lyon, eight-time winners of the Women’s Champions League, trailed 1-0 from the first leg in France, but levelled on aggregate in the 77th minute when Vanessa Gilles shot past Chelsea keeper Ann-Katrin Berger at the near post to force the game into extra time.

Lyon used the momentum they built going into the second half of extra time and Sara Dabritz put Lyon ahead in the 110th minute with a low strike into the bottom corner.

The Chelsea fans responded with a huge roar to encourage their team to get back into the game and they did just that. With seconds remaining on the clock, Lauren James was fouled by Lyon youngster Vicki Becho and Chelsea were awarded a penalty after a lenghty VAR check.

And with the last kick of the game, Maren Mjelde fired the ball into the top left corner from the penalty spot and forced the tie to be decided by a penalty shootout.

Chelsea goalkeeper Berger, on her 100th appearance for the club, became the hero, saving two penalties from Wendie Renard and Lindsey Horan.

Stamford Bridge had some familiar faces in the crowd to celebrate the win, including Chelsea men’s manager Graham Potter, defender Marc Cucurella and Reece James, brother of Lauren, who will be hoping they can also progress in the Champions League when they face Real Madrid in the quarter finals.

Emma Hayes’ side have now reached the semi-final stage for the fourth time in six years, demonnstrating the growth in quality in women’s football in England. Hayes also took the time to reflect on Arsenal’s win over Bayern Munich the previous night and said: “I’m so happy for English football, both teams are through. What a performance that was from Arsenal.”

Watch Emma Hayes’ full post-match reaction here:

This result means Chelsea will face FC Barcelona in the semi-final, who breezed past Roma to set up the tie. FC Barcelona reached the final last season but were defeated by Lyon 3-1.

Semi-final fixtures:

22nd April: Chelsea v Barcelona

22nd April: Wolfsburg v Arsenal

29th April: Barcelona v Chelsea

1st May: Arsenal v Wolfsburg