REGGIO EMILIA, ITALY — Norwegian Ada Hegerberg described Lyon’s Champions League win as “probably the best day of my life” after her side won a dramatic penalty shootout over Germans Wolfsburg, 4-3. Hegerberg, who ironically missed the opening kick, had given the French side the lead inside the first 12 minutes, poking home from close range after good work out wide from Pauline Bremer.
On scoring in her first European final, she said: “A lot of things go through your head when you score and my only focus was to do a good job for my team.”
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Wolfsburg fought back with a late Alex Popp header, somewhat fortuitous with the German side having been second best for much of the game, taking the tie into extra time.
The added 30 minute period was arguably more entertaining than the initial 90, with Wolfsburg growing in confidence and making the match more of a contest. But with neither team able to find a winner, the final went to penalty kicks for the first time since 2010 – a match Lyon lost to another German side, Turbine Potsdam.
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Hegerberg, who finished as the tournament’s top scorer with 13 goals, saw her spot kick saved by Almuth Schult, a moment she said, that left her feeling “pissed.”
“What doesn’t go through your head, to be honest?” she said. “We controlled the whole game and if we’d lost on penalties, it would be the worst thing ever.”
Sarah Bouhaddi was the hero of the shootout, saving two penalties before Saki Kumagai repeated her heroics of the 2011 World Cup final by burying her kick and handing Lyon their first European title in four years.
For 20-year-old Hegerberg, this is her first Champions League title, creating a moment she found hard to put into words.
“I really can’t describe what I feel right now,” she said. “I’m so proud to be a part of this and it’s fully deserved. I dreamt about it (this moment) every day, but it takes a lot of training and mental work, but to be here today is amazing.”
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