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After months of hiatus, the UEFA Champions League resumed on Friday August 7 with Juventus-Lyon and Manchester City-Real Madrid, second leg of the round of 16. In Turin, the Lyonnais resisted the champions of Italy and validated their ticket for the quarter-finals despite a defeat (2-1). It also goes for the Cityzens, victorious against the Madrilenians (2-1).
The Champions League has finally made a comeback. Interrupted in mid-March when only half of the round of 16 had been played, the biggest competition in Europe made its comeback with two of the four matches still to be played before the quarter-finals: the return leg between Juventus and the ‘Olympique Lyonnais, and the return leg between Manchester City and Real Madrid, both behind closed doors.
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Lyon held their own against Ronaldo and Juve
Finally, Juventus is eliminated by a French club. At European level, this had never happened. And it is the Olympique Lyonnais version 2019-2020 that has succeeded. The Gones had their 1-0 victory on their side in the first leg at Groupama Stadium. It was therefore up to Juve to set the pace to reverse the trend in its Allianz-Stadium. A project undermined from the start of the meeting.
German referee Felix Zwayer saw Rodrigo Betancur fouled Houssem Aouar in the penalty area. Supported by his video assistants, the man with the whistle therefore awarded a penalty that Memphis Depay transformed with a daring panenka (12th). The same Depay then found himself in the shoes of the offender on a free kick kicked by Cristiano Ronaldo: the Dutchman, in the wall, deflected the Portuguese shot with his elbow. The refereeing was again questionable, but the decision to award a penalty was upheld. And Ronaldo equalized (43rd).
In the second half, the Old Lady insisted on resurfacing. She then needed two more goals to overthrow the Gones. Cristiano Ronaldo, again, set the tone by scoring a second goal with a superb strike (60th). With half an hour to go, the pressure was then on the Lyon cage. But despite the assaults of the five-time Ballon d’Or and his teammates, Anthony Lopes did not give in again. And on arrival, it is OL who qualified despite this defeat in Turin (2-1): the goal scored away made the difference.
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Varane sinks Real Madrid
For the first time in his coaching career, Zinedine Zidane will not win the Champions League. The Real Madrid coach knew that the challenge was already substantial: to erase a 2-1 loss suffered in the first leg at Santiago-Bernabeu against Manchester City. The already difficult mission has become impossible in England, where Raphaël Varane, erected a pioneer of the defense in the absence of Sergio Ramos (suspended), failed as rarely.
From the first minutes, the French defender weighed down Madrid’s ambitions by letting Gabriel Jesus steal the leather from him in the penalty area. The Brazilian only had to serve on a Raheem Sterling plateau for the opening of the scoring (9th). The inevitable Karim Benzema, Real’s best player this season, got his team back on track by equalizing with a header (28th).
But Raphaël Varane, in the second half, unwittingly dashed the last hopes of the Merengue. On a long ball, the world champion poorly secured his head back towards Thibaut Courtois. Gabriel Jesus, who had felt the blow, appeared behind his back and beat the Belgian goalkeeper without difficulty (68th). Real Madrid did not recover. In the quarter-finals, in Lisbon during the Final 8, Manchester City will face Olympique Lyonnais.
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