Kick-off is at 8pm UK time, with Sonia Bompastor preparing to return to the club where she established herself as one of the most successful figures in the history of the women's game. The Chelsea head coach is far from the only member of our squad and staff with strong links to OL Lyonnes.

Assistant coach Camille Abily spent five years working alongside Bompastor on the Lyon coaching staff after her glittering playing career with the French club. Kadeisha Buchanan, Lucy Bronze, Ellie Carpenter and Melvine Malard have all worn the Lyon shirt, while each has their own story to tell about their time in France.

It means Wednesday's fixture is about much more than simply two of the biggest clubs in the Women's Champions League meeting again, but a clash between two clubs with so much shared history.

Bompastor's return to Lyon

For Bompastor, this will be a return to a club that has played such a huge part in her life. She spent two spells as a player at Lyon, from 2006 to 2009 and again from 2010 to 2013, winning six league titles, three French Cups and back-to-back Champions Leagues in 2011 and 2012.

After hanging up her boots, she remained at the club, managing the academy for eight years before taking charge of the first team in 2021. Lifting three league titles, she added a French Cup and another Champions League trophy to her collection.

In the process, she became the first person to win the Women's Champions League as both a player and a head coach. And Bompastor admits returning to her former club will be a special occasion.

‘It will be an emotional game for me individually, even if the game won't be around me,’ she said. 'The most important thing is for me to prepare the team to perform at their best in that game, but of course it's really a nice thing to just go back to Lyon and play them. They have a really good team, and it will be a great game to see where we are.’

There is also a special connection in the dugout alongside her. Abily was Bompastor's long-time team-mate before eventually becoming her assistant at Lyon, with the pair continuing their partnership when they moved to Chelsea in the summer of 2024. Abily spent five years as an assistant at Lyon and was part of the coaching team that won three league titles and the 2022 Champions League.

As a player, Abily won five Champions League titles with Lyon and made more than 150 appearances for France, making her one of the most decorated figures to have crossed the touchline into the Chelsea dugout.

Four familiar faces

Bompastor and Abily are joined by four current Chelsea players who know Lyon particularly well.

Lucy Bronze

Bronze spent three seasons in France, winning the Champions League in each campaign, before adding two more Champions League titles during her spell in Spain with Barcelona and signing for Chelsea in 2024. Here, she was reunited with both Bompastor and Abily, having previously played alongside the latter at Lyon.

Kadeisha Buchanan

Buchanan's Lyon career lasted five-and-a-half years before she joined Chelsea in 2022, during which she won five Champions League titles and eight domestic trophies. She has since become a mainstay at the heart of the Blues' defence.

The defender worked together with Bompastor during the coach's first season in charge of Lyon's senior side.

Ellie Carpenter

Carpenter is another Chelsea player with strong ties to Lyon. The Australian spent five seasons in France, winning two Champions League trophies and four league titles before moving to London.

She was reunited with Malard at Chelsea, having previously played alongside the forward under Bompastor and Abily at Lyon. ‘Obviously we have that relationship from Lyon,’ Carpenter said of Malard. ‘So it's nice to have her on the team.’

Melvine Malard

For Malard, however, the connection with Bompastor goes back much further. The head coach was instrumental in bringing the forward to Lyon at the age of 14, recognising her talent and helping her to pursue her ambitions in football.

‘Sonia has been so influential, for me and for my family,’ Malard explained. ‘If Sonia had not called my Mum and taken me to Lyon, I would not be here today. She did so much for me when I was at Lyon.’

Now, the pair will return to France together, with Bompastor heading back to the club where she made so much of her history and Malard returning to the place where her own professional journey began.

Two unforgettable chapters

Chelsea and Lyon have met in the Women's Champions League knockout stages twice before, with both ties producing memories that remain firmly etched into the history of this fixture.

2018/19 semi-final

Lyon won the first leg 2-1 in France, with Erin Cuthbert scoring for Chelsea, before the return at Kingsmeadow ended 1-1 in a dramatic match that saw Chelsea pepper the Lyon goal, hitting the woodwork and missing several chances to take the game to penalties.

The enthralling tie ended with Lyon progressing 3-2 on aggregate and ultimately towards another European title.

2022/23 quarter-final

The Blues travelled to Lyon for the first leg, and came away with a famous 1-0 victory thanks to Guro Reiten's fabulous strike.

What followed in the second leg at Stamford Bridge has gone down as one of the most dramatic nights in our history. Lyon overturned Chelsea's advantage through goals from Vanessa Gilles and Sara Dabritz, taking a 2-0 lead on the night and 2-1 in the tie.

But with the final kick of extra-time, Maren Mjelde held her nerve to convert a penalty to level the aggregate score. Ann-Katrin Berger then became the hero in the shoot-out, saving from Wendie Renard and Lindsey Horan as Chelsea prevailed 4-3 on penalties.

2026/27 league phase

Now, more than three years later, the two clubs meet again. Bompastor will walk back into a stadium where she made so much history. Abily will return to the club where she first forged her coaching partnership with the Chelsea boss. Bronze, Buchanan, Carpenter and Malard will face former team-mates.

But once the whistle goes, all of those connections will be put to one side. Another chapter in the Chelsea-Lyon story is about to be written.