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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
JOE KRISHNAN

Lyon shock Juventus as Cristiano Ronaldo draws a blank in Champions League loss

Lucas Tousart's first-half strike was enough to hand Lyon a shock 1-0 victory over Juventus in the Champions League last-16 first leg.

Cristiano Ronaldo had scored 65 goals in the knockout stages before the game and it was no surprise to see him go close early, clipping a cross-shot to the far post which nearly caught out Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes.

But it was Lyon who should have gone ahead on 21 minutes when Hossem Aouar's corner found Karl Toko Ekambi after the near post and his back-header bounced off the upright before Juventus scrambled clear.

The home side took confidence from that and Juve's slow start to find the opener on the half-hour mark when Aouar escaped Paulo Dybala on the left and found Tousart, who finished smartly on the volley past Wojciech Szczesny.

Moussa Dembele, linked heavily with a move to Chelsea in January, should have done better with his chance just a few minutes later but spurned wide with the goal at his mercy.

Ronaldo then showed his quality, cutting inside Leo Dubois before curling just wide of the far post but that was as close as the Old Lady came.

Indeed, Lyon could and should have extended their advantage when Toko Ekambi twice blazed over from a decent angle and Maurizio Sarri must have been relieved to hear the half-time whistle.

With only a slight improvement after the break, Sarri sent on Aaron Ramsey for Pjanic to inject some creativity into his side and later, Gonzalo Higuain replaced Juan Cuadrado.

The Serie A champions cranked up the pressure as the game neared its conclusion with Higuain and Dybala both inches away from a leveller.

But Lyon held on for a first-ever win against Juventus in the Champions League to take a crucial advantage to the Allianz Stadium in three weeks' time.

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