We travel to the holders and eight-time winners of the Champions League on Wednesday evening, with Lyon’s 59,000-capacity OL Stadium the venue as the French and English champions go head to head.

Emma Hayes says her side are ready and waiting for the toughest test imaginable, and she will hope to see the Blues thrive on the big stage as we have done so often in recent years. Our two group-stage victories over PSG - who have beaten Lyon this season - will give her and her players plenty of confidence we can deliver once more and knock out the holders.

The second leg is at Stamford Bridge next Thursday 30 March and tickets for the game are on sale now, with prices starting at just £9 for adults and £1 for juniors and seniors.

When and where?

Chelsea Women are away to Lyon on Wednesday 22 March in the first leg of the Women’s Champions League quarter-finals, with the game taking place at the OL Stadium.

Kick-off time

The match is scheduled to start at 5.45pm UK time, 6.45pm in France.

Where to watch

As always, you can follow the game via Chelsea Women’s social media channels. There will be live commentary on our Twitter page and regular updates on Facebook and Instagram. Simply search ‘ChelseaFCW’ on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Supporters not making the trip to France will be able to watch the match on the DAZN YouTube channel.

The form

Both teams come into this quarter-final tie in sparkling form. The Blues have lost just once in all competitions since the opening game of the WSL season, that the Conti Cup final defeat to Arsenal.

We have responded perfectly to that setback with WSL wins over Manchester United and Brighton, and then the weekend FA Cup success at Reading that booked our place in the semi-finals of that competition. Jess Carter, Maren Mjelde and Guro Reiten found the scoresheet for Hayes’ much-changed Blues, with Sam Kerr and Lauren James both rested and three youngsters handed debuts.

Prior to Christmas, we were outstanding in our Champions League group, winning five games and drawing at Real Madrid. That included a 1-0 success away to PSG, Lyon’s big rivals in France, and a 3-0 home victory over them at the Bridge.

Lyon’s path to the Champions League knockout stage was more complicated. They started their title defence with a record 5-1 loss at home to Arsenal, and were then held 1-1 at Juventus. They then beat Zurich home and away, before winning 1-0 at the Emirates. They needed a point at home to Juve to advance in second place, and they got that with a goalless draw in France.

Since Christmas a number of key players have returned from injury and they have subsequently won every game they have played in league and domestic cup, most recently beating Fleury 2-0 in the Coupe de France semi-final on Friday night.

They lead PSG at the top of the French league by a point with six games remaining. They travel to PSG in their penultimate fixture.

Chelsea Women vs Lyon Women recent head-to-head record

Our only previous competitive meetings with Lyon were in the Champions League semi-finals in 2018/19. We lost the first leg in France 2-1, a fine Erin Cuthbert goal setting the return leg at Kingsmeadow up very nicely.

Eugenie Le Sommer's deflected shot extended Lyon’s lead before a superb Ji So-Yun free-kick made it 1-1. Karen Carney hit the post as we came close to taking the tie to extra-time, but Lyon advanced to their fourth consecutive final 3-2 on aggregate. Still, Chelsea had shown we could go toe-to-toe with Europe’s best.

We met Lyon in pre-season last summer in Portland, America. Goals from Sam Kerr and Lauren James gave us a deserved 2-0 lead before a flurry of substitutions disrupted the game, after which Lyon brought it back to 2-2 before winning 4-3 on penalties.

Next up for the Blues

The big games keep coming as we travel to Manchester City on Sunday for a crunch fixture at the top of the WSL. Kick-off at the Manchester City Academy Stadium is at 12.40pm. It will be shown on BBC One.