Lyon stun Manchester City to reach Champions League semifinals

Belgium midfielder de Bruyne says that after another heartbreaking league exit, it was “not good enough.”

“It’s definitely the same stuff. I think the first half wasn’t good enough,” he told BT Sport after the game. “I think we know that.

“We started slow, didn’t have many options. I think the second half we played really well. We equalized 1-1, had a few chances and obviously 2-1, then 3- 1 ending the game It’s a pity for us to go that way.

“The game was open but they didn’t really create except two scoring opportunities. Yes, we need to learn. It’s not good enough.”

Relieve the pressure

With star players and a big-name coach, Manchester City were overwhelmingly favored to beat Lyon.

But the French side showed their tenacity in the second leg against Juventus in the previous round, surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates despite having almost five months without football.

And its durability has been put to the test from the start. Manchester City dominated the game from the first whistle, but failed to create any golden opportunities.

And finally Lyon’s counter-attack created the first goal of the match. A ball was played behind the City defence for Karl Toko Ekambi to continue, eventually landing on Maxwel Cornet and, as Man City keeper Ederson went out of goal, Cornet made a stunning cut in close angle from a distance of about 20m.

The rest of the first half went exactly as planned by Lyon and coach Rudi Garcia. Manchester City dominated possession without creating too many clear chances while Pep Guardiola’s side looked vulnerable at the break.

After halftime, the game opened up and after Guardiola’s attacking substitution, Man City began to create arbitrary opportunities.

And in the end, the pressure spoke, as some fine footwork from England international Raheem Sterling freed him to put it back for de Bruyne to finish.

Looks like there will only be one winner. However, Lyon’s super-sub Dembélé thought otherwise, he dribbled nearly half-way and finished under Ederson’s hand. A tense video assistant referee checked later but after a few minutes of waiting, the goal was scored.

Man City, though behind, created more opportunities and the best opportunities belonged to Sterling. A few clever dribbles and a pass from Gabriel Jesus gave Sterling the opening goal from just five yards, but he sent the ball over the crossbar.

And the miss proved costly. Just 59 seconds later, Lyon scored again, Dembélé after an amazing save from Ederson to send the French club into the final for the first time in nearly 10 years.

The result meant that during Guardiola’s time at the club, Manchester City failed to make it past the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Despite thinking his side played well for most of the game, Guardiola lamented that Manchester City couldn’t play without making mistakes in the Champions League.

“One day we will break this gap of the quarter-finals,” he told BT Sport after the game. “Except for the first 25 minutes where we struggled to find space to attack them more fluently, the players, they played freely.”

“And the last 15 minutes of the first half went well. The second half went well, we were there. I have a feeling that we played better, but you have to be perfect in this competition in a game. and we don’t.”