UWCL 2021/2022 : How Lyon Women ended Barcelona Women’s European dominance thanks to effective pressing and finishing concreteness – tactical analysis

Lyon Women were able to lift the UEFA Women’s Champions League trophy last weekend by winning 3-1 against the title holders and favourites, Barcelona Women, in one of the most entertaining women’s football games in the last few seasons given the quality of both teams. In fact, Lyon made a big surprise to many followers of the game in this final and the way with which they won was even more impressive.

Knowing the current excellent form of Barcelona players and the fact that they became almost unbeatable this season, it was a great accomplishment for Lyon to be still able to win with three goals while conceding just one against a giant of the European football, relying mainly on the talent of their players as well as their European experience. This experience includes winning against this same Barcelona side in the final of 2019’s UEFA Women’s Champions League.

Therefore, repeating the accomplishment twice in a short period and despite Barcelona’s great run form was huge for Lyon. And the fact that this Lyon team was in a transition phase during this season adds a lot more value to their win. Lyon’s recent unstable run of form of last season costed them the qualification to the UWCL’s semi-finals against their rivals PSG and that helped them work better this season and have more motivation to reach the last stages of the competition.

Also, succeeding in lifting the trophy against a tough team like Barcelona proves that Lyon’s players have got a lot of character and that they can’t be underestimated. The team believed in their abilities to win and showed that immediately on the pitch, and that’s what enabled them to score three goals in a single half while creating some other dangerous goalscoring chances.

In this tactical analysis article, we will focus on Lyon’s attacking plans and how they were able to score three goals while at the same time exploring Barcelona’s defensive mistakes and identifying the reasons that led to their “downfall” in terms of tactics. Moreover, it will be important to look at Barcelona’s attacking performance and see what went wrong for them despite having some of the best attacking players in the world.

Line-ups

Sonia Bompastor preferred to start this game using the 4-2-3-1 formation and relying on Christiane Endler as a goalkeeper, Ellie Carpenter, Griedge Mbock Bathy, Wendie Renard and Selma Bacha in defence, Lindsey Horan and Amandine Henry as central midfielders, Delphine Cascarino and Melvine Malard on the wings while Catarina Macario played as an advanced playmaker in support of Ada Hegerberg.

On the other side, Jonatan Giráldez started the match according to the usual 4-3-3 formation with Sandra Paños as a goalkeeper, Marta Torrejón, Irene Paredes, former Atlético Madrid’s Mapi León and former Bayern Munich  and Wolfsburg’s Fridolina Rolfö in defence, Aitana Bonmatí, Patricia Guijarro and Alexia Putellas as central midfielders, Caroline Graham Hansen and Mariona Caldentey on the wings and Jennifer Hermoso as a striker.

Lyon’s performance

Lyon started this match in an excellent and efficient manner and most of all, they were very dynamic on the ball and especially when out of possession, which enabled them to disturb Barcelona’s build-up from the back and make their passing more complicated. This was possible only through continuous high pressing from Lyon players and most of all, it needed intelligent movements and not just pressing for the sake of it, otherwise, Lyon wouldn’t have benefited from their pressing.

This means that the team studied Barcelona very well and were aware of their passing systems and plans especially when building up, and that’s why Lyon players looked aggressive on the ball and predicted Barcelona’s passes better than most if not all previous Barcelona’s opponents. What helped the team in winning the ball upfront as well is the number with which Lyon pressed high on Barcelona defenders. You can see here how five Lyon players were in Barcelona’s own third and marked most players.