Cornet (R) celebrates scoring the opening goal during the UEFA
Champions League quarter-final football match between Manchester
City and Lyon at the Jose Alvalade stadium in Lisbon on August 15,
2020. Miguel A. Lopes / POOL / AFP
Moussa Dembele came off the bench to score two late
goals as Lyon caused another Champions League sensation on
Saturday, dumping out Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City with a 3-1
quarter-final win in Lisbon.
City had looked on course to come back and win the tie behind
closed doors at the Estadio Jose Alvalade after Kevin De Bruyne’s
goal midway through the second half had cancelled out Maxwel
Cornet’s first-half opener.
However, Dembele put Lyon back ahead in the 79th minute and then
capitalised on a shocking miss by Raheem Sterling to clinch the
victory three minutes from the end.
Against all expectations, a team who finished seventh in the
curtailed French season, and had played just two competitive games
since early March, now find themselves through to a Champions
League semi-final on Wednesday against Bayern Munich.
That, surely, will be a step too far for Rudi Garcia’s team but
then again nobody expected them to eliminate Juventus in the last
round, never mind knock out City here.
“We are still in it, which means we have a great team,” former
Celtic striker Dembele told French television channel RMC
Sport.
defender Kyle Walker (L) vies with Lyon’s Ivorian forward Maxwel
Cornet during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final football
match between Manchester City and Lyon at the Jose Alvalade stadium
in Lisbon on August 15, 2020.FRANCK FIFE / POOL / AFP
“We are taking it game by game, not getting carried away. We
will try to be ready for Bayern.”
Guardiola’s team had been warned about Lyon, losing at home and
then drawing away against the French club in last season’s
Champions League.
But that was almost two years ago now and Lyon had lost several
key players since then.
This, a day after Bayern’s 8-2 demolition of Barcelona, is a
seismic shock and a hammer blow to the ambitions of City under
Guardiola.
Their wait for European glory will go on, with this a third
consecutive quarter-final exit.
“It is what it is. Maybe one day we are going to break through
the quarter-finals. We are not able to do it now, with these
incredible guys, but we are going to try in the future,” Guardiola
said.
He was brought to the Etihad Stadium to deliver the Champions
League, but he has not managed to equal the club’s best performance
to date in the competition, a semi-final appearance in 2016, just
before he was appointed.
Franco-German battle
And so, a year after Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur in an
all-English final, there will be no English representative in the
semi-finals in the Portuguese capital.
Instead, both ties will be Franco-German duels, with Paris
Saint-Germain facing RB Leipzig before Bayern meet Lyon in a repeat
of the 2010 semi-finals.
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Guardiola had set his team up with a three-man defence, as
Fernandinho and Aymeric Laporte were joined by the young Spaniard
Eric Garcia. Phil Foden dropped out of their line-up.
City created little in the first half and were caught out by a
long ball over the top as Lyon took the lead.
Anthony Lopes vies for the ball beside Lyon’s Brazilian defender
Marcal (L) during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final football
match between Manchester City and Lyon at the Jose Alvalade stadium
in Lisbon on August 15, 2020. FRANCK FIFE / POOL / AFP
Garcia raced back to tackle Karl Toko-Ekambi but Cornet was
quickest to the loose ball and, with Ederson off his line, curled a
low shot first-time into the corner of the net to keep up his
remarkable record against these opponents — the wing-back scored
three times against City in last season’s two meetings.
De Bruyne appeared the most likely to make something happen for
City and threatened from free-kicks after the restart, as City
turned up the heat following the introduction of Riyad Mahrez in
place of Fernandinho.
The equaliser duly arrived in the 69th minute as Mahrez clipped
a ball forward towards Sterling and he cut it back from the byline
to De Bruyne, the Belgian arriving unmarked at the edge of the box
to sidefoot home.
Sterling’s shocking miss
Few would have bet against City going on to win the game from
there. Lyon had offered nothing going forward in the second half
and coach Garcia even decided to take off Memphis Depay, who had
been anonymous.
But it proved an inspired decision as his replacement Dembele
latched onto Houssem Aouar’s through ball to race through on goal
and beat Ederson.
City expected the effort to be disallowed following a VAR review
but the Dutch officials let it stand, and Lyon were back in
front.
midfielder Raheem Sterling (L) misses a goal opportunity during the
UEFA Champions League quarter-final football match between
Manchester City and Lyon at the Jose Alvalade stadium in Lisbon on
August 15, 2020. FRANCK FIFE / POOL / AFP
Still they should have been pegged back again, but Sterling
somehow put the ball over with the goal gaping having been teed up
by Ilkay Gundogan.
Lyon went straight downfield and sealed a famous victory as
Dembele converted the loose ball after Ederson had saved from
Aouar.
AFP