Juventus vs Lyon: Cristiano Ronaldo’s Brace Not Good Enough as Les Gones Oust Bianconeri From Champions League
Cristiano Ronaldo starred with a brace to help Juventus beat Lyon 2-1 on Friday night in the second leg of the Round of 16 clash at the Allianz Stadium, but unfortunately, that was not good enough to take the Bianconeri to the quarter-final as Les Gones made it on the basis of away goals to set up a date with Man City in the quarters next week.
Lyon, having won the first leg 1-0 in France, secured their quarter’s berth with one away goal to oust the in-form side. Memphis Depay scored the all-important away goal in the 13th-minute of the encounter via penalty, which also broke the deadlock and proved to be the most important goal in both the legs combined.
Ronaldo gave hope to the Serie A champions when he scored from the spot in the 43rd-minute following a controversial handball from Depay in the first half.
Fifteen minutes after the half-time, Ronaldo scored again with a thunderous strike from outside the box that clipped the hands of outstretched Lyon keeper Anthony Lopes and into the net. With that goal, Juve had leveled the score on aggregate, but again that did not prove to be good enough as they could not find one more goal.
With the brace, Ronaldo added another feather to his crown by breaking a long-standing 95-year-old record. Ronaldo finishes the season with most goals in a single campaign for Juventus with 37. He edged out the 35-goal tally of Ferenc Hizrez.
“We knew we needed courage, talent and a little bit of fortune,” said Lyon coach Rudi Garcia.
The subsequent rounds will be one-legged affairs at neutral sites in Lisbon, culminating with the final on Aug. 23.