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Arsenal v OL Lyonnes: Women’s Champions League semi-final, first leg – live | Women’s Champions League
Key events
20 mins: That was all a bit rubbish from Arsenal. This is a Champions League semi-final and they have given the opener away.
It is very early in this two-legged tie, so no need to panic.
GOAL! Arsenal 0-1 Lyon (Brand, 18)
Far too easy for Lyon as Arsenal lose possession in their own half and then Brand is allowed to walk through the defence, before reaching the box and finding the corner from 15 yards.
18 mins: Lyon get into a decent position but the cross from the right is a poor one, flying over everyone’s head and out for a goal kick.
16 mins: Arsenal build from the back thanks to some smart passing but McCabe’s pass is not read by Foord, allowing the ball to drift behind.
14 mins: Blackstenius uses her strength to turn Renard inside the box. The defender just about recovers, at the cost of a corner. Caldentey swings in into the front post but it is a poor corner, allowing for an easy clearance.
12 mins: A long ball over the top forces Endler to sprint out of her box and head clear. There is a half chance to shoot from about 50 yards but the option is declined.
10 mins: Both teams have settled quickly. Lyon are penalised for an offside, it wasn’t particularly tight because she was half a yard onside. We just need the officials to settle and we could be in for a decent game.
8 mins: Lyon make it into the Arsenal box and just before Hegerberg can get a shot away, Fox puts in a tackle and earns a goal kick thanks to a ricochet.
6 mins: Arsenal are enjoying a good spell of possession but Russo cannot find a pass through the Lyon defence.
Another attack builds and concludes with Foord dragging a shot wide from inside the box.
4 mins: Lyon put on some pressure but Arsenal break up field through Fox but the attack comes to an end when Smith is tackled.
2 mins: Not much happening in the opening stages.
Gordon emails: “For me, Lyon will take this semi final. They will not gift Arsenal three goals over the tie as they did in last year’s semi- finals. Also, Arsenal are fortunate to have McCabe playing today; she should, of course, have been sent off for a hairpull against Chelsea in the last round, and be suspended for this match. Bayern Munich player Kett was red-carded for a hairpull yesterday in the other semi, and she’s suspended from the second leg v Barcelona.”
Kick off
Peep! Peep! Peep! Here we go!
No Beth Mead and Chloe Kelly on the bench for Arsenal, leaving the bench looking quite light.
Renee Slegers: “We had really good collaboration with England, she was ready for 45 mins against Iceland, she did really good and came back ready. I am really happy she is available today.
“It will never be easy in a semi-final of the Champions League. I have huge respect for Lyon. We want to embrace this moment and give it everything we have.”
Jonatan Giraldez: “We know we have to do a lot of good things.
“I love the pressure, it is the energy I need to move forward. I am very honoured to have possibilities like this.”
It is a huge boost for the Gunners to have Williamson back in the heart of defence. Could this be the inspiration they need to beat Lyon at home for the first time?
A lovely day for a semi-final.
The Guardian has kicked off a new chapter in puzzles with the launch of its first daily football game, On the ball. It is now live in the app for both iOS and Android … so what are you waiting for?
Pre-match reading.
Starting lineups
Arsenal (4-3-3): Van Domselaar; Fox, Williamson, Wubben-Moy, McCabe; Russo, Little, Caldentay; Smith, Blackstenius, Foord
Subs: Votikova, Borbe, Laia Codina, Maanum, Pelova, Hinds, Holmberg, Harwood
Lyon: Endler; Lawrence, Renard, Engen, Svava; Shrader, Heaps, Yohannes; Diani, Hegerberg, Brand
Subs: Belhadj, Bacha, Junttila Nelhage, Dumornay, Becho, Katoto, Egurrola, Fathallah, Sombath, Chawinga, Benyahia, Tarciane
Referee: Desiree Blanco (Sui)
Preamble
It is the holders versus the competition’s most successful side, making this a rather exciting prospect for all involved. With the prospect of chasing down Manchester City in the WSL, this looks like the Gunners’ most likely source of silverware this season. Lyon have already been victorious at Arsenal this season, defeating them at Borehamwood in the league phase but the Emirates should provide a different prospect for the French side for a team who are 14 points clear in Ligue Feminine and are yet to lose in any competition all season.
The Gunners have not lost in the league since October and eliminated Chelsea in the last round of the Champions League, so will be unperturbed by the reputation of the visitors. It should make for a cracker!
Kick-off: 3.30pm BST
UK News
David Guetta and Sia’s song Titanium got me through my fertility treatment | Dance music
At the end of 2011, party season was under way but I was in no mood for festivities. Two years into fertility treatment, my body was pumped full of synthetic hormones and felt like a pin cushion, while my head was filled with both the fragile hope of having a baby, and the exhaustion of failed clinical attempts to do so.
I was in my late 20s. I met my husband when I was 22; we got married when I was 25. “I want to have kids young,” I’d told him. It was a feeling I’d harboured since my teenage years. But I’d also had the nagging sense that it might not come easily to me. As it turned out, my intuition was right. Approaching 28, I was a regular on the infertility merry-go-round.
I was recovering from my second miscarriage that year when I heard Sia’s raspy voice on the car radio belting out words that sounded emotionally weighty for an electronic dance number – her David Guetta collaboration, Titanium.
It’s not a song I would have necessarily rated or listened to again – I’m more likely to play 00s R&B and hip-hop – but it came at the perfect time in my life. I had forgotten how days felt before fertility drugs and the diarised cycles of administering them. I’d been constantly wearing a brave face and cramming in hospital appointments before and after work, going about my job through a fog of longing and hormones. It had left me in a “cry on the bedroom floor” kind of a heap. I needed something to drag the hope back into me.
I turned the radio up and listened to the lyrics: “I’m bulletproof, nothing to lose / Fire away, fire away.” It felt as if it was talking to and about me, issuing a riposte to all those shots of disappointment that had been fired our way. As Sia’s vocals ascended through the chorus with Guetta’s soaring synths – “Ricochet, you take your aim” – I cried, but I felt myself gaining power with her, too. “You shoot me down, but I won’t fall / I am titanium.” Those were the words I needed to hear.
I felt like a puppet pulled upright again. I streamed it on repeat in the days that followed. I might not have been able to face the work Christmas party but I wasn’t going to languish on the bedroom floor any more.
Over the next months, I spent a lot of time in my car, travelling to work and to fertility appointments to get my blood tested, hormones measured or insides scanned. Listening to Titanium became routine. Each time, its cinematic surge had the same empowering effect and I’d turn up the volume, wind down the windows and defiantly sing along in my terrible voice so it could wash over me.
The following May, when my husband and I headed to the clinic for another IVF embryo transfer, I let it motivate me; when we drove back from scans confirming we were six weeks, then 12 weeks pregnant, I celebrated with it. As I nervously made my way through my pregnancy, I turned to it when I needed the boost.
In January 2013, our first son was born. Today, he is the eldest of three: his brother arrived 15 months later, via IVF too (the last of our fertilised embryos) and four years later, another brother, without fertility treatment. We consider ourselves unspeakably lucky; for many, the outcome is not the same.
In our family, everyone knows Titanium is my fight song. It’s the only big commercial dance hit on my playlists, and a marker of something I overcame.
My kids call me in whenever it streams or plays on TV. When I made my husband a playlist for our 15th wedding anniversary, it’s the song that represented our 2011. And the other week, when he was out with friends, he sent me a voice note from the bar: he’d recorded it playing in the background.
There’s something all-consuming about fertility treatment: you view life only through the filter of your efforts to get pregnant. If you’re lucky, the filter lifts. It did for me, but the fight song remained. So, now, elsewhere in life, when I need a shot of strength and find myself alone in the car, down goes the window and on it goes.
UK News
Parents 'facing uncertainty' as SEN children left without school places
Amy Gibney says she is one of eight families at her child’s school to find out that they don’t have a place for next year.
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Edinburgh airport reopens after security alert but passengers warned of ‘knock on’ effect | Scotland
Edinburgh airport reopened on Saturday morning after parts of the terminal building were evacuated on Friday night because of a security alert.
An explosive ordnance disposal team was sent to the airport to investigate what Police Scotland described as a “potentially suspicious package” discovered at about 6.50pm on Friday.
An evacuation was ordered and a police cordon was set up, with roads closed.
Passengers faced disruption as result of the operation and the airport warned that schedules would continue to be affected on Saturday.
In a statement at about 3am on Saturday, the airport confirmed it had reopened and would work to restore normal services as quickly as possible.
“Following investigations by specialist teams, the airport has now reopened.
“This incident will have knock-on impacts throughout today and staff are working hard to address these and support passengers.
“Operational teams are continuing to work to restore normal services as quickly as possible.
“Please check with your airline for the latest information on your flight.”
The statement did not provide an update about the examination of the suspicious package.
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