By Tony Leighton

Arsenal's Yankey provided two assists

Arsenal's hopes of reaching the Women's Champions League were ended when Olympique Lyonnais scored three first-half goals in the second leg of their semi-final on Saturday.

The French champions built on their 2-0 win in the first game to beat the Gunners 3-2 at Boreham Wood and go through 5-2 on aggregate to the final at Craven Cottage in May.

It might have been different if Jordan Nobbs' goal-bound shot had not been turned on to the post by Lyonnais goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi after only 45 seconds.

But when Eugenie Le Sommer walzed round Arsenal goalkeeper Emma Byrne to open the scoring in the 16th minute the writing was on the wall for the home side.

Eighteen minutes later striker Le Sommer ended the tie as a contest when she added a second goal with a viciously curling 18-yard shot.

When Laura Dickenmann tapped in from close range in first-half stoppage time the Gunners were well and truly down and out.

They restored pride in the second half, with substitute Julie Fleeting reducing the arrears in the 68th minute and Ellen White scoring five minutes from time.

Both goals came from crosses by left winger Rachel Yankey, but cutting back the five-goal deficit in 45 minutes was way beyond Laura Harvey's team.

Manager Harvey said: "We did OK at times, but you can't afford to give a team like Lyon the chances we gave them.

"Their first and third goals came from our mistakes, and as much as we tried in the second half it was too much to ask to get back into the tie."

Arsenal must now beat Barnet in next week's FA Cup semi-final to earn a place in next season's Champions League.

The two FA Cup finalists will be England's Euro contestants and Harvey said: "We want to be in Europe every season, so the Barnet game is absolutely vital for us."

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