PARIS: Lyon beat Roma 3-0 to maintain their 100 percent record in Group A of the Women’s Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg thrashed Galatasaray to pick up their first points.
In Group B, Chelsea came from behind against Celtic to preserve their perfect record and Real Madrid put seven past Twente.
Record eight-time winners Lyon traveled to the Italian capital with both sides level at the top of the group on two wins apiece.
Melchie Dumornay’s first-half brace put the French side firmly in control, her second coming three minutes before the interval via an audacious chip from inside the center circle.
Vanessa Gilles poked in from close range in the 52nd minute to rubber-stamp an authoritative performance by Joe Montemurro’s side.
Wolfsburg, the 2013 and 2014 Champions League winners, started their latest campaign with back-to-back defeats against Lyon and Roma — leaving them third in Group A with no goals scored and in real danger of elimination.
Their 5-0 win in Istanbul keeps them third place, three points behind Roma in second.
“We want to get out of the group by working hard and doing our best for the (three) remaining matches,” said Wolfsburg forward Rebecka Blomqvist.
“We are in a very tough group. But we also have the power to achieve this.”
Defender Joelle Wedemeyer’s 24th-minute header from a corner gave the Germans the lead. Blomqvist tapped in on 63 minutes to double the advantage.
The Swedish striker stroked home a third for the team with 13 minutes remaining and then rounded off her hat-trick six minutes into added time.
Vivien Endemann smashed home a fifth for Wolfsburg in the 97th minute.
“We are very happy with the result,” added Blomqvist. “I am proud to show my best out on the pitch. It’s great to contribute to the team.”
A third successive defeat in three outings leaves the Turks bottom of the table with just one goal scored and 14 conceded.
At Parkhead, Chelsea moved to nine points with a 2-1 victory over winless Celtic.
The hosts took a surprise lead with just over 20 minutes gone when Murphy Agnew raced through and lifted a finish past goalkeeper Zecira Musovic.
It took the English champions only six minutes to respond, first through Maika Hamano in the 28th minute and then Ashley Lawrence tucked home a rebound four minutes later.
Chelsea were unable to kill off the match in the second half but succeeded nonetheless in holding Celtic at arm’s length to see out a narrow victory, despite Aggie Beever-Jones picking up a second yellow card deep in injury time.
Real Madrid strolled past Dutch side Twente with a 7-0 win in Spain.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring in the third minute, before center-half Maria Mendez nodded in her first goal in European football 13 minutes later.
Naomie Feller guided in a third on 50 minutes and Caroline Weir soon after curled an unstoppable free-kick over the wall and into the top corner.
Mendez then doubled her tally in the competition with a second header from a corner three minutes after the hour, before Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho completed the rout.
The Spaniards sit second in the group with six points.
Lyon and Chelsea stay perfect in Women’s Champions League
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Lyon and Chelsea stay perfect in Women’s Champions League
Sanders crashes out of Dakar Rally contention and Al-Attiyah reclaims car lead
- The Australian’s KTM finished 28 minutes behind stage 10 winner Adrien van Beveren’s Honda
- Al-Attiyah has a sixth Dakar triumph in sight
BISHA, Saudi Arabia: Dakar Rally front-runner Daniel Sanders crashed and fell out of motorbike title contention and Nasser Al-Attiyah snatched back the car lead in the Saudi desert on Wednesday.
Sanders broke his left collarbone and sternum jumping a dune 138 kilometers into the 368-kilometer second half of a marathon stage to Bisha. The defending champion continued but slower and within 30 kilometers his six-minute overnight lead was gone.
The Australian’s KTM finished 28 minutes behind stage 10 winner Adrien van Beveren’s Honda and he dropped from first overall to fourth, more than 17 minutes back, two minutes off the podium.
That left the title to be decided between new leader Ricky Brabec and Luciano Benavides, second and third on the stage. The American’s Honda and Argentine’s KTM were separated overall by 56 seconds ahead of, effectively, a two stage shootout. The final stage on Saturday is usually a ceremonial ride.
Brabec won the Dakar in 2020 and 2024 while Benavides has never won; best placing was fourth last year.
Al-Attiyah has a sixth Dakar triumph in sight.
The dunes specialist from Qatar stamped his authority on the sandy special to finish second to Mathieu Serradori, who gave South African manufacturer Century its first Dakar stage win.
Serradori won his second career stage by six minutes.
The Fords of Nani Roma (first overnight), Carlos Sainz (second) and Mattias Ekström (fifth) were the biggest losers.
Ekström was first to the checkpoint at 91 kilometers but moments later suffered a mechanical problem. Roma lost his way and dropped 10 minutes just before passing 200 kilometers. Sainz also made a navigation error in the soft sand.
“I’m knackered, my back hurts, I suffered a lot today,” Roma said. “But that’s part of the game.”
Also, Toyota’s Henk Lategan, fourth overnight, ran out of fuel and made a navigation error.
Al-Attiyah grabbed the provisional overall lead about 200 kilometers into the 420-kilometer special and topped a Dacia 2-3-4 stage finish with Sébastien Loeb and Lucas Moraes.
“My head and body have taken a real beating,” Al-Attiyah said. “But we really attacked from start to finish. Fabian (Lurquin, navigator) did a great job and we can feel both happy and lucky because it was really hard.”
Overall, Al-Attiyah earned his biggest lead yet, over Lategan by 12 minutes, Roma by nearly 13 and Loeb by 23. Ekström and Sainz fell more than 34 minutes back.
