Arsenal vs Lyon live: Gunners begin Women’s Champions League defence against French titans – UK Times

7 mins: The volume kicks up a notch as Mead floats down the left channel, cutting it back for Maanum in the box, but the visitors clear…

Not far enough though! Mead isn’t daunted, she comes again, and Russo is perfectly positioned to latch onto her forward pass and slot into the bottom corner.

6 mins: VAR is in action tonight, as it is across the Women’s Champions League. Let’s see if we need it…

Referee Maria Ferrieri Caputi gets her book out early as Catley is fouled right in front of both managers’ technical areas.

It’s a poor challenge, Katoto stamping on her foot, and she sees yellow.

3 mins: Russo gets things underway.

Arsenal have a spell of possession but the visitors pin them back early doors. Van Domselaar nearly comes under pressure from a marauding Lyonnais but clears the ball swiftly.

Pressure from Lyon, Dumornay loops in a cross with a surge of pace down the right flank but there’s no one to get on the end of it.

The last time Lyon played Arsenal away was at the Emirates; Meadow Park may not have quite the same capacity but it’s certainly bringing the same atmosphere.

Arsenal head coach Renee Slegers has a quick chat with disney+ ahead of kickoff.

She says: “We always have high expectations on ourselves. But other teams will look at us differently [as champions] and we have to be ready for that.”

“Lyon have a lot of quality, a lot of pace – it will be a hard game but hopefully we can cause them problems.”

Arsenal XI: Van Domselaar, Fox, Reid, Catley, Hinds, Mariona, Little, Maanum, Kelly, Mead, Russo

Lyon XI: Endler, Tarciane, Renard, Engen, Bacha, Shrader, Heaps, Diani, Dumornay, Chawinga, Katoto

• 7 October (8pm) v Lyon (H)
• 16 October (8pm) v Benfica (A)
• 12 November (5.45pm) v Bayern Munich (A)
• 19 November 19 v Real Madrid (H)
• 9 December 9 v Twente (H)
• 17 December (8pm) v OH Leuven (A)

The Women’s Champions League has had a revamp, following in the footsteps of the men’s equivalent with its “Swiss-style” system.

Essentially there’s an 18-team group phase, with each team playing three matches home and three matches away.

The top four automatically qualify for the quarter-finals, with the teams placed 7th to 12th playing two-legged playoffs for the remaining last eight spots.

The teams from 13th to 18th are eliminated.

Visiting manager Jonatan Giraldez said: “Arsenal are a very good team with good players, as they demonstrated last season. It’ll be a tough game and we’ll have to be perfect. Their recent results haven’t been good, but their performances have been interesting.

“I like the new format. I think it’s interesting because there is competitiveness between all the teams. It’s good for the popularity of the competition.”