SOCCER/Real Madrid 1 Lyon 1 (Lyon win 2-1 on agg):FLORENTINO PEREZ did not spend €263 million for this. Real Madrid may have gone to the top of the Spanish league table on Sunday night but this season was always going to be defined by the European Cup, the tournament to which Madrid believe they have a divine right.
The final will be held at the Bernabeu but Madrid will not be there, except as hosts. For the sixth successive season they have been eliminated at the first knockout stage. The biggest club of them all, it seems, is not really a big club at all.
A second-half goal by Miralem Pjanic last night nullified Cristiano Ronaldo’s early goal – one that promised to make this an easy passage into the quarter-final. As he struck the ball beyond Iker Casillas, the score was 1-1, leaving the French side 2-1 up on aggregate and Madrid needing two goals in quarter of an hour.
Madrid’s impressive first half gave way to an utterly impotent second in which the French side deserved to go through.
After six minutes Guti’s ball was curled down the left-hand channel. Cristiano Ronaldo steamed beyond Anthony Reveillere and Cris and with his left foot struck a diagonal shot between the legs of the goalkeeper Hugo Lloris. Already, the tie was level. It had been too easy and the mistake appeared to weigh upon Lloris; three minutes later he struggled to hold Kaka’s shot.
Ronaldo then headed over and barely a minute after that Gonzalo Higuain’s strike on the bounce flew wide. Madrid still required another goal but it felt like it was just a matter of time – as if, for all the talk of epic comebacks and a Bernabeu inferno, there would be no drama after all. It was going to be a stroll. Ronaldo had Lyon back-pedalling every time he collected the ball.
Lyon limited their strategy to hitting long balls up to Lisandro Lopez and the occasional incursion from Sidney Govou on the right. But their confidence grew as Madrid’s frustration did likewise – Ronaldo rounded on Higuain, accusing the Argentinian of shooting when he should have passed – and they had the best chance of the half. Jean Makoun, Pjanic and Govou combined neatly. The latter’s cross from the right found Makoun lurking near the penalty spot but, falling backwards, he scuffed his shot.
Madrid were under renewed pressure as the second half began. Inside the first 10 minutes Govou’s shot flew over and Casillas was forced into a superb save from Lisandro.
Lyon were finding their feet and finding men. The introduction of Maxime Gonalons appeared to provide greater presence; there was an aggression and intent about Lyon that had been lacking.
The nerves took hold of the Bernabeu too, which grew quieter and edgy. And then it happened. Lisandro, with his back to goal, turned a first-time pass into the path of Pjanic. The ball sat up and he hit it beyond Casillas.
Manuel Pellegrini, the Madrid coach, had insisted before the game that his side would not need an epic fight-back. Now, they did.
When Madrid failed to find a way through and could not even raise a show of defiance, most supporters thought he would depart the Bernabeu without delay. Madrid do not accept failure, but that is exactly what this was.
REAL MADRID: Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Albiol, Garay, Arbeloa (Mahamadou Diarra 83), Lassana Diarra, Guti, Granero (Van der Vaart 62), Kaka (Raul 77), Ronaldo, Higuain. Subs Not Used: Dudek, Gago, Metzelder, Mosquera. Booked: Granero, Van der Vaart.
LYON: Lloris, Reveillere, Cris, Boumsong (Kallstrom 46), Cissokho, Toulalan, Govou, Makoun (Gonalons 46), Pjanic (Ederson 83), Delgado, Lopez. Subs Not Used: Vercoutre, Bodmer, Gomis, Tafer. Booked: Cris, Delgado.
Ref eree: Nicola Rizzoli (Italy).
