Lyon hold a narrow victory over Wolfsburg in the final group stage match of the Champions League

A late 81st minute goal by Danielle Van de Donk sees Lyon continue their winning ways to top group A unbeaten in the Women’s Champions League group stages.

The most striking difference, as the starting XIs come out for the sides, is the lack of Wolfsburg goalkeeper Merle Frohmsas she is replaced by Anneke Borbe.

The first half kicks off slowly, with both sides playing fairly equally. A number of free kicks are given to both sides, however no proper chance emerges until the 13th minute where Lyon’s Tabitha Chawinga puts a left footed shot just wide of the net. This is followed quickly by another shot from a corner by Lindsey Horan, saved by Borbe in the bottom corner.

Wolfsburg have their first chance in the 36th minute, where Sveindis Jonsdottir’s impressive shot from outside the box is just wide of the net.

The final attempt of the half comes from Lyon, where Borbe makes a jumping save to prevent Kadidiatou Diani’s shot from entering the top of the goal.

Both sides are still searching for a goal going into the half-time break.

As before, the second half starts slowly. However, an exciting moment sees a Hegerberg shot for Lyon blocked, swiftly turning into a hopeful counterattack as Wolfsburg travel the ball down the pitch before Chantal Hagel’s shot is also blocked.

Several changes occur in the 60th minute, seeing Lyon remove Dzsenifer Marozsan and Ada Hegerberg to replace them with Sara Dabritz and Eugenie Le Sommer, whilst Wolfsburg replaces Chantal Hagel with Jule Brand.

Lyon grow to be the stronger side following this, the few shots coming solely from the French side. However, a goal is still yet to be found.

A brief pause in the game to attend to a Wolfsburg injury sees another round of substitutes. Lyon’s Bacha and Horan, and Wolfsburg’s Huth and Endemann all leave the pitch- replaced by Svava and van de Donk for Lyon, and Beerensteyn and Minge for Wolfsburg.

These substitutes are what make the difference in the game, a sneaky close range shot behind the keeper into the bottom corner from Danielle van de Donk assisted by Kadidiatou Diani gives the French side the lead in the 81st minute.

Wolfsburg respond unsuccessfully with a singular attempt, where Jule Brand’s scrappy attempt is high and wide.

The full-time whistle is blown in the 90+4th minute, leaving the final score 1-0 to the home team.

Both sides will advance further in the competition as the top two teams in the group. Lyon tops group A with 18 points, whereas Wolfsburg come second with 9 points.

Also in the group - Roma miss out on goal difference as they too hold 9 points, whereas Turkish team Galatasaray harvested 0 points in the group.