Reaction from Pep Guardiola: “I don’t want to complain or look for excuses, we are out.”
Congratulations to Lyon, then, and commiserations to Manchester City, who can’t catch a break in this competition. Maybe next year. David Hytner was at the Estádio José Alvalade to witness their dramatic defeat; here’s his report. Enjoy that one, and thanks for reading this one. Nighty night.
Pep’s verdict is sporting, honest and dignified. “One day we will break this cup. The first 25 minutes we struggled. The second half, I had the feeling we were better. But you have to be perfect in this competition in one game, and we weren’t. Honestly, I don’t want to talk about the circumstances, it looks like I am complaining and finding excuses. We are out. We did a lot of good things, but it was not enough. We made mistakes in both boxes at key moments and that’s why we are out. We are disappointed but now we go to our holidays and come back soon to lift the players and club again and continue. Maybe one day we will break this cup.”
Kevin De Bruyne, who was his usual excellent self tonight, comes out to speak, and does so frankly. “Different year, same stuff. The first half wasn’t good enough, I think we know that. We started slow. But second half we played really well, came back 1-1 and had a couple of chances. and then 2-1 and 3-1 ends the game, and it’s shame for us to go out that way. I have not seen [the Laporte-Dembele tangle] back, but whatever they decide, they decide. I’m not going to blame that, we should have done better. Even at 2-1 if [Sterling] scores the goal it’s 2-2 and the game goes on. But that’s football, the fine margins that make the difference. We need to learn, man. It’s not good enough, and that’s it. It’s time to go home, it’s been a long season. I need to go home anyway because my wife is expecting any moment, so I have something to focus on personally ... but yeah, it’s hard.”
Lyon’s second, awarded despite a tangle of legs between Moussa Dembele and Aymeric Laporte, will be the focus of some City ire. It doesn’t alter the fact that this game should now be going to extra time. Raheem Sterling - who was otherwise City’s most dangerous player on the night - should have equalised for a second time, but leaned back and blazed over an open goal from six yards. His shock - everyone’s shock - at the miss was palpable. And then 59 seconds later, Ederson flapped and City’s fate was sealed. But set the details aside: when you boil it down, Lyon did a number on City, who didn’t really get going properly until there was trouble afoot. The French side defended doggedly, launched their breaks with verve and panache, and deservedly go through.
For the first time in the history of the Champions League, two French clubs have reached the semi-finals. Lyon will play Bayern Munich in the second of two France-Germany clashes on Wednesday evening, PSG and Leipzig contesting the other the night before.
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FULL TIME: Manchester City 1-3 Lyon
And that’s it. Lyon cavort as the referee blows his whistle. City crumble as one to the floor. Jesus is in floods of tears.
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90 min +5: Sterling, keen to make amends, dribbles hard down the right and enters the box. His shot is deflected and squirts across the face of goal. The resulting corner is claimed by Lopes. “I’m at a loss as to why Bernardo Silva didn’t play in this game,” writes Duncan Edwards. “He’s definitely hitting the target with both chances missed in the last 10 minutes by Jesus and Sterling. Pep always has to make some weird selection it seems.”
90 min +4: The box is loaded, but De Bruyne goes straight for goal yet again. Lopes is waiting for it and turns the vicious shot over the bar. From the resulting corner, hit long, Walker heads down and wide right. It’s over.
90 min +3: Sterling dribbles with great purpose down the left. He’s bowled over just outside the box. City simply have to score from this free kick. De Bruyne prepares to take.
90 min +2: City can’t get anything going. On the touchline, Guardiola, pain etched across his face, claps his encouragement. But he knows.
90 min: City have five extra minutes to find two goals and salvage their dream.
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89 min: Poor Sterling looked utterly befuddled and bereft after that unbelievable Ronny-Rosenthal-on-the-end-of-a-stick miss. Goodness knows what’s going through his mind now.
GOAL! Manchester City 1-3 Lyon (Dembele 87)
A full 59 seconds after Sterling’s astonishing miss, Aouar tries to shape a shot into the bottom right from the edge of the City box. It’s weak and poor. Ederson, however, palms weakly and the rebound falls to Dembele, who dinks into the bottom right. What an astonishing sequence of events! What a sickener for City.
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86 min: One of the most astonishing misses in the history of football, right here. Jesus scampers down the inside right. He pulls the ball across the face of goal for Sterling, who just has to tap home. But he leans back and blasts over from six yards!
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85 min: David Silva comes on for Rodri.
84 min: Replays of that goal suggest City have been hard done by. Dembele and Laporte had come together as he started his run, the defender bowled to the ground. But both ref and VAR dude let it slide. You’ll probably hear more of this if City can’t find a second equaliser.
82 min: City stroke it around with a view to clearing their heads. Lyon are happy to sit back and let them do it.
80 min: There’s a long wait as VAR checks the offside decision, plus a tangle between Dembele and Laporte. But the goal stands. On the touchline, Guardiola looks utterly stunned.
GOAL! Lyon 2-1 Manchester City (Dembele 78)
Aouar splits the high City back line with a ball down the middle. It’s meant for Ekambi, who is offside, but he leaves it. Instead, Dembele picks up possession and romps clear. He sidefoots powerfully through Ederson’s legs and in!
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77 min: Sterling sahsays down the left and stops inside the box. He carefully wedges across the face of goal for Jesus, all alone at the far post. It’s a ball worthy of an assist, but Jesus can’t strike the right pose and, his body shape all wrong, batters wide right from a close angle.
76 min: City are beginning to turn the screw now. Jesus scampers down the inside-left and twice attempts to get a shot away from a tight angle. He wants a penalty, one effort twanging off Marcelo’s hand, but the ref isn’t up for that one either, and quite rightly so: the defender’s arm was down by his side, and both players were right next to each other anyway.
75 min: A double change for Lyon. Dubois and Depay make way for Tete and Dembele.
73 min: Jesus drifts in from the left and whipcracks a shot towards the top left. Lopes does extremely well to turn it around the post. Nothing comes of the corner.
71 min: Lyon respond well, Cornet threatening to burst clear of Walker and into the box. Walker gives him a light brush on the back. Cornet goes down as though assaulted. He wants a penalty, but the referee isn’t having any of it. Much too theatrical.
GOAL! Manchester City 1-1 Lyon (De Bruyne 69)
What an equaliser! Mahrez slides Sterling away down the left. Sterling checks on the byline and pulls a brilliant ball back for De Bruyne who, rushing in, opens his body and creams a glorious shot across Lopes and into the bottom right! A really simple goal when you break it all down ... but a very pretty one too!
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68 min: De Bruyne strides magnificently down the middle of the park, with Lyon backpedalling furiously. He reaches the edge of the box and skelps goalwards, but Denayer blocks.
66 min: After an extremely long period of contemplation, De Bruyne goes for the top right. His curler is always going high and wide.
64 min: Marcelo is booked for lumbering into Jesus, just to the left of the D. Another free kick, in an even more threatening position.
63 min: Marcal spots some space in the middle and drives into it, larruping a long-distance shot straight at Ederson. Easy for the keeper. “If Cornet’s goal decides this, will it be for Guardiola again: close, but no ice-cream?” David Crowther, ladies and gentlemen, the comedic if not literal descendent of Leslie.
61 min: De Bruyne floats one in from the left, but it’s a wee bit too high for Sterling at the far post. City are beginning to build some pressure, though, at long last.
60 min: De Bruyne loops over the wall and towards the bottom left. It’s a bit to measured, too timid. Lopes palms it away easily enough, a spectacular one for the cameras.
59 min: Marcelo barges into the back of Jesus, 25 yards from goal. A free kick in a very dangerous position, just to the left of centre. De Bruyne’s eyes light up.
58 min: Rodri is booked for a clip on the in-flight Guimaraes.
57 min: The corner’s not much good.
56 min: Cancelo wins a corner down the left. Before it can be taken, City take off Fernandinho, who is one challenge away from disgrace. Mahrez comes on in his stead.
55 min: City are seeing more of the ball, as ever, but it’s all a bit frantic. Nothing much coming off in the final third.
53 min: Fernandinho swings a cross in from the right. It’s totally aimless, and should be dealt with easily by Dubois, but he panics and heads out for a corner under no pressure. And then, the corner hit too long, he does it again, launching himself theatrically in the manner of Keith Houchen, a spectacular diving header with nobody behind him. Another needless corner, which City waste. A strange little cameo.
51 min: Depay is needlessly hauled over by Garcia, and it’s a free kick in a central position, the best part of 35 yards out. Depay fancies it, and after a long run-up, belts it straight at the wall. Full marks for ambition.
49 min: Cancelo twists his way down the left but just as it looks as though he’s clear, Denayer romps across to blooter the ball off his toe. He even wins a throw for Lyon, playing it off the City wing back. Pep strides the technical area anxiously.
47 min: Ekambi chases what looks a lost cause down the right, but backheels on the byline and the ball clanks off Laporte. Corner. Nothing comes of it, but it’s a positive start to the half by Lyon, immediately reminding City of their ability to launch attacks at great speed.
Lyon get the second half underway. No half-time changes.
Half-time entertainment. Heeeeeeere’s Johnny!
HALF TIME: Manchester City 0-1 Lyon
The whistle goes for half-time, just as City were finally building up a head of steam. They only started asking Lyon serious questions towards the end of the half. That should give them a little succour as they contemplate turning this around in the second half. Lyon, by contrast, will be more than happy with a very controlled performance and a fine goal.
45 min +1: A delicious outside-of-the-boot pass by De Bruyne, quarterbacking from deep. It releases Sterling into the box down the inside-right channel. But the angle is tight, and his route to goal is blocked by Cornet’s fine last-ditch lunge. Another corner, from which nothing occurs.
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45 min: Another corner on the left for City, after some good work by Gundogan. Garcia heads it harmlessly wide.
44 min: De Bruyne makes space down the left and batters hard and low into the centre. Marcelo diverts out for a corner with Jesus lurking. Nothing much happens at the set piece.
42 min: Sterling tries down the right this time, and sits Cornet down with a lovely shake of the hips. He cuts back for Rodri, who slams a shot straight at Lopes, who needs two goes at getting the ball under control.
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41 min: A few hard-but-fair challenges flying in right now, De Bruyne on Marcelo, Marcal on Walker. Quite a lot of frowns on City faces at the minute.
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39 min: De Bruyne goes directly for goal again. Lopes punches clear again.
38 min: Both players are good to continue. The game restarts with Sterling’s baroque ramble down the left. Eventually he’s clipped to the ground by Denayer, who Sterling was beginning to tie in knots. Another free kick near the left-hand corner flag.
37 min: Fernandinho and Aouar clash while contesting a high ball. The Lyon player seems to have come off a little worse. A suggestion that Fernandinho led with the arm there. The referee deems it accidental, but Fernandinho really does need to rein it in, he’s asking for trouble right now.
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35 min: City reestablish their dominance of the ball, but don’t do a great deal with it. On the sidelines, Pep sits back in his chair, gesticulating wildly and making observations in the trenchant style. He’s far from content.
33 min: Fernandinho clips Aouar from behind. It’s just a garden-variety foul, but the Lyon players remind the referee that Fernandinho’s on a booking, and they’ll be sure to do that again and again, whenever the City man transgresses. He’ll need to watch himself.
31 min: Cancelo makes good down the left. His cross is weakly punched by Lopes towards Gundogan, but the keeper makes amends by spreading himself well to deny the City midfielder a shot on goal. Better from City, though, who otherwise haven’t given Lopes too much to do.
30 min: Depay chips the resulting free kick over City’s high defensive line, but can’t find a team-mate in the box. Very poor.
29 min: Fernandinho is the second name to go in the book for a cynical tap on Aouar’s heel, as the Lyon midfielder dribbled adroitly down the middle of the park.
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28 min: Jesus is clipped over by Denayer near the left-hand corner flag. De Bruyne takes the free kick and goes straight for goal. Lopes punches clear.
26 min: There’s a VAR check, in case Ekambi had gone too soon, but Walker was playing him on. Pep claps energetically on the touchline to whip up his troops.
GOAL! Manchester City 0-1 Lyon (Cornet 24)
Marcal launches a long pass from the left-back position. Ekambi springs the offside trap and races clear. Garcia does exceptionally well to hook-tackle him, but the ball breaks to Cornet, 30 yards out. Ederson is off his line, so Cornet curls a first-time shot around the slumped Ekambi and Garcia and into the bottom left!
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23 min: See 20 mins, except it’s Cancelo passing to Sterling on the left. Sterling reaches the byline and cuts back to ... nobody. Jesus isn’t where he usually is.
21 min: De Bruyne powers through the middle and slips a pass down the left wing for Sterling to chase. But for once it’s not perfectly weighted - how uncharacteristic - and Denayer is able to come across and put a stop to Sterling’s gallop.
20 min: Dubois slips a cute diagonal ball into the box from the right, freeing Dubois, who cuts back to ... nobody. Depay’s not where he usually is. For a split second there, City were cut open.
19 min: Lyon are slowly imposing themselves, seeing a lot more of the ball than they did during the opening exchanges. So much for that aforementioned pattern.
17 min: It’s all gone a bit flat. None of last night’s trippy nonsense. Speaking of which ... “It was a decent performance from Bayern last night, but beating Barcelona in European competition isn’t such a big deal, at least not here in Dundee,” writes Simon McMahon, of course referring to United’s 100-percent, four-from-four win ratio in competitive football against the Catalan giants. “It’s as well for the European superpowers that Dundee United only came back up into the Scottish Premiership this season. I hear that they’re now calling Guardiola the ‘Spanish Micky Mellon’. I doubt even Pep could produce the tactical masterclass that saw United claim a 2-1 win in Dingwall today. Europe watch out!”
15 min: De Bruyne clanks into Aouar. The referee briefly considers booking him for hanging out a cynical leg, but is hypnotised by De Bruyne’s na-na-na wagging finger and changes his mind.
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14 min: Cornet spends an aeon over a long throw that’s easily cleared. The game’s suddenly gone a bit like that.
12 min: Dubois picks up the first booking for a pointless late lunge on Cancelo, who was going backwards in his own half.
10 min: From the corner, Marcelo has a dig from distance. Ederson flops on the ball without drama. Both sides have now shown what they can do. A nice open feel to this game.
9 min: The game has settled a little, into a pattern that’s likely to be maintained. City are enjoying the bulk of possession, but Lyon are happy to tuck in, stringing five across the back, waiting for the chance to break. And here they come, though Ekambi down the left. He tear up the wing and wins a corner off Garcia.
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7 min: Walker throws in from the right. Jesus tries to spin down the channel but is manhandled by Marcelo. He wants a free kick, and probably should get one, but the referee isn’t interested.
5 min: Now it’s City’s turn to suffer some heart-in-mouth angst, as Walker powerfully chests a right-wing cross back to Ederson, who makes a three-course meal of gathering as the ball heads for the bottom left. The keeper eventually smothers, but only after nearly squeaking into the corner.
3 min: City nearly replicate Bayern Munich’s fifth goal last night, Sterling taking the Alphonso Davies role by zipping in from the left and cutting back for Jesus/Kimmich. But there’s no chance of Jesus tapping home, because Marcal gets a crucial block in, and Marcelo blooters out for a corner. Nothing comes of the resulting set piece. So close to the opener, though!
2 min: Just as well for City that Garcia was sharp from the get-go, because for a second it looked as though the young midfielder was about to break clear.
City get the ball rolling. Both teams have a go at stringing a few passes together at high velocity. Then Caqueret threatens to latch onto a long hoof upfield, but Garcia is alert to the danger and steps across to intercept.
The teams are out. City are in their sky blue Puma shirts with mosaic effect, while Lyon sport second-choice Adidas black. We’ll be off once the official Champions League anthem has parped out of the PA, and captains Fernandinho and Memphis Depay exchange pennants. “There’s been 16 goals in the three quarter-finals so far,” notes Justin Kavanagh. “So chances are this one will have 0-0 and penalties written all over it.” There, that’s fate tempted nicely. Plenty of goals and a result after the regulation 90 minutes coming right up!
Pep Guardiola speaks. “I absolutely have trust in Eric Garcia. He has played in many important games and has specific qualities, that’s why he’s in the starting XI. Joao Cancelo plays good and aggressive, this is his country, and I want to give him a chance because I trust him a lot. Lyon in Europe has good results and is one of the greatest in France.”
It’s not very nice to kick people when they’re down. But it is good fun. Marie Meyer pulls on her best boots, takes a long run-up, and ... “Do you reckon City’s team selection means Eric Garcia sidled up to Pep this morning and said that, upon further reflection, he didn’t want to return to Barcelona after all?” Hoof! A solid connection, right in Barca’s special area. Anyone desirous of reliving last night’s action, and why wouldn’t you, can do so here. Enjoy, enjoy.
Mercurial Talent dept. Here’s Jonathan Wilson on the young man tasked with filling Sergio Aguero’s shoes ...
... and Jonathan Liew on the rise and fall and rise again of Lyon’s captain and star draw.
Round-of-16 retro MBM. City got here by telling Real Madrid what’s what at the Bernabeu and then again back home. Lyon made it past Juventus by winning at home and snaffling a crucial away goal in Turin.
The teams
Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Eric Garcia, Laporte, Joao Cancelo, Fernandinho, Gundogan, Rodri, De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, Sterling.
Subs: Bravo, Stones, Zinchenko, Bernardo Silva, Silva, Mendy, Mahrez, Otamendi, Foden, Doyle, Palmer, Bernabe.
Lyon: Lopes, Denayer, Marcelo, Marcal, Dubois, Caqueret, Bruno Guimaraes, Aouar, Cornet, Depay, Toko Ekambi.
Subs: Diomande, Andersen, Da Silva, Dembele, Traore, Thiago Mendes, Reine-Adelaide, Cherki, Jean Lucas, Tete, Tatarusanu, Bard.
Referee: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands).
Manchester City make one change to the team named for the 2-1 win over Real Madrid the other Friday. Eric Garcia replaces Fernandinho in the centre of defence. Fernandinho moves into midfield, which means Phil Foden drops to the bench. Lyon meanwhile name the same XI sent out to get the job done at Juventus.
Preamble
Manchester City’s relationship with the European Cup is long and complex. It also hasn’t really been that much fun, ever since Malcolm Allison promised that City’s 1968 league winners would attack their European Cup rivals “as they haven’t been attacked since the old Real Madrid”, only for them to be immediately cashiered from the competition in the first round by Fenerbahce. Since then it’s been a series of indignities in the modern era: failures to get out of the groups, shock quarter-final defeats, unlucky scrapes with VAR, all that. And let’s not bring the horn-locking with Uefa’s lawyers into this. City are long overdue a break.
Perhaps this, finally, is their year. Pep Guardiola’s team have just overwhelmed the 13-time winners and newly crowned Spanish champions Real Madrid, beating them home and away in the round of 16. They had been expected to face Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus tonight, but instead of the Italian champs they’ll play Lyon, who were seventh in Ligue 1 when French football was abandoned for the season. Hats off to the French side for squeezing past Juve on away goals, but having lost the French League Cup final to PSG, they’re currently without a win in four either side of the break.
City go into this as strong favourites - Lyon are 11-1 outsiders - and will hope to get the job done without too much drama, ahead of an emotional energy-sapping summit meeting with Pep’s former beaus Bayern Munich. A place in the semis for only the second time in City’s history awaits - but Lyon will take heart from their 2-1 victory at the Etihad in last season’s groups, a result they followed up with a 2-2 draw back at home. City therefore won’t be taking anything for granted, especially as anything can happen in a one-off tie. It could go to extra time. It could go to penalties. It’s on!
Kick off: 8pm BST, 8pm in Lisbon.
