LONDON: Arsenal’s women produced a thrilling fightback from a 2-0 first leg defeat to beat Real Madrid 3-0 on Wednesday and set up a Champions League semi-final with eight-time winners Lyon.

Alessia Russo scored twice for the Gunners in front of a crowd of 22,517 at the Emirates, either side of Mariona Caldentey’s header, to fire Arsenal into the last four. Madrid arrived in London full of confidence after beating Barcelona for the first time in a women’s Clasico on Sunday. However, the Spanish giants were made to wait for a first Champions League semi-final by a dominant Arsenal performance.

“It still feels a bit surreal right now, I’ve not really let it sink in yet,” said Russo of her best night since a high-profile move from Manchester United in 2023. “We had a lot of belief all week, we knew what we wanted to do, we knew what we were capable of as a team and we have done that tonight.”

The home side’s pressure bore no fruit before the half-time break and indeed they were thankful to a fine save from Daphne van Domselaar that prevented Filippa Angeldahl from adding to Madrid’s aggregate advantage. Three goals in the first 14 minutes of the second half transformed the tie.

Russo swept home Chloe Kelly’s dangerous cross just seconds after the restart. Kelly then picked out former Barcelona midfielder Caldentey to head in just three minutes later. Russo produced an acrobatic finish to complete the comeback on the hour mark after Madrid failed to deal with a free-kick into the box.

The England striker thought she had a memorable hat-trick only for VAR to intervene and rule out an Arsenal fourth for offside. But Renee Slegers’ side held out to march into the semi-finals, where the French champions will be waiting.

Lyon thrashed Bayern Munich 4-1 to advance 6-1 on aggregate in their quest for a record-extending ninth title. Klara Buehl gave Bayern hope with a first-half strike that reduced Lyon’s two-goal advantage from last week’s first leg in Germany. Lyon levelled on the night moments into the second half through Melchie Dumornay’s header before Kadidiatou Diani punished a defensive error to put the French champions in complete control.

Malawi international Tabitha Chawinga grabbed Lyon’s third and former Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg came off the bench to round off the scoring in stoppage time. Three-time winners Barcelona hold a 4-1 lead over Wolfsburg ahead of Thursday’s quarter-final, second leg in Spain.

Meanwhile, English champions Chelsea must follow Arsenal’s lead in overturning a two-goal first leg deficit against Manchester City. — AFP