Chelsea beat French club Lyon 1-0 away in France in the first-leg quarter-final clash of the Women’s Champions League.
Guro Reiten, in the form of her life, scored the winner shortly before the half-hour, a pinpoint finish that owed much to the industry, skill and vision of Erin Cuthbert.
Chelsea were no doubt the better team as Lauren James, the sister of Chelsea mens team right-back Reece James, crashed a shot against the post.
Sam Kerr fired wide when through on goal and Chelsea goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger only made one save of note, tipping Delphine Cascarino’s shot onto the post.
The tie is far from over and Chelsea will still have to perform in the second leg at Stamford Bridge next week. But this was a performance that signified they can compete and beat the best of Europe.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Berger; Perisset (Mjelde 86), Buchanan, Bright (c) (Eriksson 44), Carter; Leupolz, Ingle; James (Rytting Kaneryd 85), Cuthbert (Charles 71), Reiten; Kerr.
Unused subs Musovic, Orman, Abdullina, Fleming, Cankovic
Scorer Reiten 28
Booked Ingle 54, Cuthbert 57
Lyon (4-diamond-2): Endler; Carpenter, Gilles, Renard (c), Morroni (Bacha 55); Egurrola; Horan, Dabritz (Majri 69); Marozsan (Van de Donk 55); Cascarino (Malard 69), Le Sommer (Becho h/t).
Unused subs Belhadj, Hegerberg, Sombath, Cayman, Bruun, Benyahia
Referee Tess Olofsson from Sweden