Olympic Lyon made one of the biggest surprises in the recent few years, after eliminating Manchester City from the Champions League quarterfinals. The final result was 3-1 for the French representatives who were absolute underdogs in this one.
A shocking turn of development was seen at Estadio Jose Alvalande, as Pep Guardiola’s side suffered arguably the most painful defeat in the UCL under his leadership. All previous eliminations and losses haven’t been this frustrating, because City stood as the No.1 candidate for capturing the trophy this season. Plus, they had the easiest opponents in the quarterfinals, according to all the football experts.
📅 19 September 2018:
Cornet scores, Lyon beat City 2-1📅 27 November 2018:
Cornet scores twice, Lyon draw 2-2📅 15 August 2020:
Cornet scores, Dembele scores, Lyon win 3-1Another crazy chapter to add to the #UCL book. pic.twitter.com/gB0hHBSJZF
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) August 15, 2020
The Citizens had the initiative in the opening 15 minutes, and they even threatened Anthony Lopes but without any success.
After 24 minutes of play, Lyon delivered the first big hit, when Maxwel Cornet scored a goal, finding the back of an empty net, following Ederson’s rush outside the boundaries of City’s box. A fun fact is that Lyon’s midfielder recorded six UCL goals so far, and that four of them were against the Sky-Blues.
Man City began to pressure, and they have a couple of very good chances, through Rodri, Sterling, and others, but they again couldn’t beat Lopes. The initiative continued in the second half, and City’s effort finally paid off in the 69th minute, when De Bryne ran onto Sterling’s cross in the heart of the box to level the score.
But the French team didn’t back out like Atalanta against PSG, becoming more aggressive and offensive following the goal. City was attacking, and Lyon waited for counter-attacks, and one such came in the 79th minute when Dembele scored.
On the other side, Sterling missed an unbelievable shot, from five yards sending the ball way above the goal, and making his teammates stunned and furious. On the other side, Dembele punished that in the 88th minute, netting Lyon’s third and his second of the game, sealing City’s UCL dreams.
A moment Raheem Sterling will want to forget 🤦♂️
Just 59 seconds before Moussa Dembele put Lyon 3-1 up, Raheem Sterling had the chance to level things. He missed the open net from right in front.#UCL pic.twitter.com/Kb3s2Zr3b8
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) August 15, 2020
The Kids as the fans call them, will play against Bayern Munich in the semis, and they know that they have another “mission impossible” ahead of them. We all saw how Bavarians rolled over Barcelona last night.
Still, after eliminating Juventus led by Cristiano Ronaldo, and now City, Lyon has to be respected, as they have nothing to lose against a team on the other side, who is under heavy pressure to win.
What do you think, does Lyon have some chances to reach the finals?
