Potsdam end Frankfurt's league hopes

UEFA Women's Champions League finalists 1. FFC Frankfurt had their hopes of reclaiming the German title dashed in a 3-1 defeat at 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam on Sunday, but their showpiece opponents Olympique Lyonnais remain on course in France.

At kick-off, Frankfurt occupied fourth spot, four points behind leaders Potsdam with three games remaining. Potsdam, who lost to Lyon in the UEFA Women's Champions League semi-finals, raced into a 2-0 lead after 27 minutes through a pair of Genoveva Añonma goals and the Equatorial Guinea forward, top scorer in the Frauen Bundesliga, completed her hat-trick late on after Saskia Bartusiak had pulled one back.

Potsdam, aiming for a fourth straight title, now lie one point ahead of VfL Wolfsburg, who in turn are six clear of Frankfurt – their next league opponents on 20 May. Only the top two qualify for Europe, but Germany will have a third entrant if Frankfurt beat Lyon in Munich on 17 May and finish outside the leading pair.

Frankfurt coach Sven Kahlert, whose team must face FC Bayern München in Saturday's German Cup decider in Cologne before travelling to Munich, said: "The first 15 minutes went as we had planned. After that, we were no longer on the pitch. The players were caught out twice and didn't meet requirements either defensively or offensively. In the second half, things went better, but a draw would not have been enough for us, so I went three up front and concentrated on attack as it didn't matter if we lost 2-1 or 3-1."

Lyon, who will be defending their European crown against Frankfurt at the Olympiastadion, passed 100 goals for the French league season with a 6-0 defeat of struggling ASJ Soyaux-Charente. Élodie Thomis and Eugénie Le Sommer both scored twice with Corine Franco and Amandine Henry also on target to complete a good week in which Lotta Schelin signed a new one-year contract with a 12-month option. Unbeaten Lyon remain three points behind FCF Juvisy Essonne with a game in hand – a win carrying four points – and on Sunday face Montpellier Hérault SC in the French Cup final.

Elsewhere, ASD Torres CF secured their third straight Italian title with two games to spare by beating FCF Como 2000 ASD 3-0 with goals from Patrizia Panico, Giorgia Motta and Fabiana Costi protecting their seven-point advantage over ASD CF Bardolino Verona, one of three teams in the running to take the league’s other European berth. For Panico, 37, it is her eighth Serie A triumph and sixth in a row, having won three consecutive championships with Bardolino before joining Torres in 2009.