Women's Champions League tactical analysis: Melchie Dumornay's impressive attacking display
dimanche 20 avril 2025
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UEFA Technical Observer Jayne Ludlow highlights how Lyon forward Melchie Dumornay played a key role in her side's victory against Arsenal in the first leg of their UEFA Women's Champions League semi-final.
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Lyon hold the advantage in their UEFA Women's Champions League semi-final against Arsenal after goals from Kadidiatou Diani and Melchie Dumornay helped the French side claim a 2-1 first-leg win in north London.
Lyon blended attacking flair and defensive resilience to ensure victory. Joe Montemurro's side went ahead after 17 minutes when Diani finished a clever build-up move. However, Arsenal looked to have secured a draw from the game when Mariona Caldentey equalised from the penalty spot after 78 minutes, only for Dumornay to notch the winner for Lyon four minutes later.
"It's a stage of the competition when it's all about results, and that's the only way you're going to get through," said Lyon head coach Montemurro after the final whistle. "You have to find a way and suffer – sometimes the football isn't the best, but we have a strong team of characters who have the ability to find a way in these special moments."
Dumornay's attacking flexibility key to Lyon victory
In the same way that Lyon's victory against Bayern in their quarter-final opener owed much to the attacking movement and positional flexibility of Dumornay, so too did the French side's victory in London. After playing a key role in her side's opening goal and adding the winner later in the game, the 21-year-old Haitian international was named Player of the Match.
"She was a constant threat in possession with her movement between the lines and her ability to run behind at pace," explained UEFA Technical Observer Jayne Ludlow. "There was a strong rotational understanding in the front three and good timing of movement for combinations at speed. It was a great clinical finish for her goal."
With Dumornay possessing the ability to fulfil a number of positional roles, Montemurro was able to make a number of tactical changes within the game. "Melchie is a modern footballer, [meaning] that wherever you put her on the pitch, in terms of the top three, or even a little bit lower in midfield, you know she's going to have an effect," said the Australian coach.
"We have this opportunity through the game to be able to do that, which sometimes changes the dynamic of the game. When we're under pressure, I lower her a little more. We start to get a little of the ball, we change a few things around and, in the end, we've got the result we wanted."
Dumornay contributes to both Lyon goals
For Lyon's first goal, the French side cleverly created space during build-up play, allowing right-back Ellie Carpenter to receive and drive forward into Arsenal's half. The space was created by the movement of midfielder Lindsey Heaps, who switched from a central-midfield position onto the right-hand side. In doing so, Heaps causes some indecision in Arsenal's press, allowing Carpenter to receive and play forward.
At the same time, Dumornay's clever movement into a deeper attacking position succeeds in drawing a defender towards her and opening up space for Diani to run into and receive. This combination play from Lyon was a key factor in their victory. "When Lyon's front three combine, they are lethal, because they've got pace, technique and their timing and movement is good," said Ludlow. "They gave Arsenal's back line a real challenge."
Lyon's second goal, which was finished by Dumornay, was further evidence of the coordinated relationship between the French side's attackers. On this occasion, we see substitutes Amel Majri and Ada Hegerberg combine to release Dumornay into space.
"We've worked a lot on it at training," said Montemurro after the game. "If they stay in position, it's a lot easier to read. So, they are the ones in the moment to identify the space: one will come short and take a defender away, another one will go over the top or come inside. They have this autonomy, and effectively they understand where the space is in the moments."
How to play against Dumornay
With her ability to come short and connect the game, as well as to make clever runs behind, Lyon's Dumornay poses a number of threats for defenders to deal with.
"Dumornay has really good receiving skills and awareness, so she's often taking the ball away from where the pressure is coming from," said Ludlow. "If you're the defender, it's difficult to know whether to go tight and be aggressive or let her have space. If you go tight, she's physically strong enough to deal with that.
"If you give her some space and she turns you, she's probably going to be quicker than you. So she's a tough player to play against. Another option is to double up against her, but that is quite rare at the top level."
Coaching considerations: Developing coordinated attacking play
Developing coordinated attacking play like Lyon displayed against Arsenal requires repetition of work on the training ground and a focus on detailed technique linked to clever movement. "From a coaching perspective, it's about the detail of the first pass into the attacking players, then it's looking at the timing of the movement and how the attackers read the movement off each other," said Ludlow.
"The attackers have to be very reactive to the movement of their team-mates. The movement of your team-mate is the trigger for you to make a different movement, and that is how they make their decisions."
Further analysis
