Women’s football icon Tabitha Chawinga on Wednesday helped his side Olympique Lyonnais to thrash Bayern Munich 4-1 and advance to the Uefa Women’s Champions League semi-finals.
This is the second time that Tabitha has reached the Uefa Women’s Champions League semi-finals, having also done the same with PSG last season.
Chawinga, who played a key role in last year’s campaign with PSG, wason song once again, scoring in both legs of Lyonnais’ quarter-final tie to advance 6-1 on aggregate.
After the victory Chawinga downplayed her role in her team’s success.
She said: “Humility keeps us grounded, hard work elevates us, and God glorifies us so that He Himself may be glorified and worshipped. Talent alone is not enough to sustain success.”
During the match, Klara Buehl gave Bayern hope with a first-half strike that reduced Lyon’s two-goal advantage.
Lyonnais levelled on the night moments into the second-half through Melchie Dumornay’s header before Kadidiatou Diani punished a defensive error to put the French champions in complete control.
Tabitha then grabbed Lyonnais’ third before former Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg came off the bench to round off the scoring in stoppage time.
Tabitha’s back-to-back goals come after being criticised that she had lost her magic boots following a goal-drought.
But the Scorchers forward last month attributed this to her new role at Lynnais as winger.
Football analyst Charles Nyirenda in an interview said Tabitha has proved her critics wrong.
He said: “People have to understand her new role at Lynnais where she is playing wide than the traditional striker.
“That role calls for her to be a provider of assists. Goals may come, but that’s just a bonus.”
