Wales hosts thrilling Women’s Champions League final
THIS may well have been an allFrench affair, the noise of Paris Saint-Germain’s unisex ultras bringing a slice of the continental to Cardiff in this Women’s Champions League final, but it was difficult to shake the sense that the true winners were distinctly Welsh.
Whether the youngsters taking in their first games in this family-heavy crowd will be able to reel off the result in years to come is one thing.
But the hope, the expectation, is that they will remember this game, they will remember the experience.
It may simply be for the buzz of being part of an excited crowd for the first time. Often looked down upon by supporters, the smiles on the faces as a Mexican wave washed around the stands to the backdrop of the PSG drums was something that should last a little while yet. Ask any long-term football-goer, and many will admit that their habit was born as much out of the addiction to atmosphere as the football they watched.
But Wales’ triumph from this night was beyond finding more attendees for the most-watched sport in the country.
Role models come in all shapes and sizes and the efforts of Gareth Bale et al last summer will have inspired girls to start kicking a ball down the park or at their schools as well as the boys with their long-established pathways.
But there is undeniably an advantage for the grassroots of the women’s game to see such a level of female athlete on such a stage.
Wales’ national manager knew it before the French champions and their nearest rivals kicked off under a setting sun following a glorious first day of Champions League festivities in the capital.
Jayne Ludlow, who also served as the final’s ambassador, spoke on the eve of the final of this being “a generationchanging event” of promising female footballers seeing not only their game up in lights, supported by a noisy crowd, but seeing the elite level up close.
She described herself as “ecstatic” that generations of now, next and the future would be able to see the talents expensively assembled by Lyon, ones such as the dominant Germany captain Dzsenifer Marozsan or the skill of USA international Alex Morgan who, unfortunately, was only able to show one delightful drop of the shoulder and dummy before succumbing to an ankle injury that had made her a doubt for the game to start with.
“More important than Christmas,” she had told her players. It was more than words as line after line of red Wales tracksuit tops could be spotted sat together, women’s teams from Under-16 up to the seniors sat together (stronger, naturally).
The plans are in place to take advantage and the hope will be that the demand follows.
Women’s football does appear to have enjoyed something of a breakthrough.
Indeed, Ludlow was in the Arsenal team 10 years ago that were British football’s first and last winners of this competition. The London club’s home tie of a two-legged final was played at the home of Boreham Wood; here was 22,433 – thought to be the second-highest gate in the competition’s history and larger than this season’s average crowd for Cardiff City.
Cheap tickets and encouragement to younger fans to get a feel for football, to feel part of this Champions League weekend. Lyon and PSG played their part in their entertaining in a fascinating tussle played out to a carnival background from those partisan Parisians.
A firecracker start that was in keeping with the pyrotechnics of the opening ceremony was a delight, as were some of the deft touches and willingness to be brave with the ball.
Of course, for those who are not regular watchers of the female version of the game, there is always the temptation to make comparisons with what is seen on Match of the Day.
Traditionally, those have been unfair, but anyone who uses such a measuring stick when casting curious glances should perhaps have taken note of the mixture of honesty and aggression that marked this final. Throughout there was good use of strength with first instincts to keep the ball alive rather than play dead.
Technique stood out from some, both in attack and defence. While Ader Hegeberg, the European player of the year, disappointed and was guilty of missing Lyon’s best chance, Marozsan and Marjri stood out for the holders as they tried to control possession.
But they could not find a way through well organised defending with PSG not afraid to go direct, Marie-Laure Delie unable to beat goalkeeper Katarzyna Kiedrzynek when flicked through by Ashley Lawrence, and Cristiane blazing over after further good work on the wing from Lawrence.
Lyon increasingly lacked creativity, PSG began to lack the lungs to keep up their defiance of the odds.
But the game lacked any breakthrough, both in 90 minutes and extra time.
The victors will see their images added to the hall of fame at the festival gallery currently on display at Cardiff Bay. Ludlow is there herself, but hopes the likes of Sophie Ingle, Natasha Harding and, of course, Jess Fishlock will be there one day. In ten years, who knows after this inspiration.
Ludlow had said she wants, first and foremost, the future stars of the women’s game in Wales to enjoy their football. This, for old and new, was just that.