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.
The Lyon players celebrate. Photograph: Alex Livesey/Danehouse/Getty Images
Lyon players take time out from their celebrations to pay their respects to Prince Kadewere, the brother of their teammate Tino Kadewere, who died recently. Photograph: Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images
Updated
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.
Lyon’s Houssem Aouar celebrates the victory over Manchester City. Photograph: Antonio Cotrim/EPA
Whilst Gabriel Jesus (right) and Raheem Sterling despair at their defeat. Photograph: Alex Livesey – Danehouse/Getty Images
Updated
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.
Pep Guardiola can’t bear to watch. Photograph: Matthew Ashton/AMMA/Getty Images
Updated
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.
Moussa Dembele gets his second, and Lyon’s third. Photograph: Michael Regan/UEFA/Getty Images
Updated
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!
Raheem Sterling baloons over the bar. Photograph: Michael Regan/UEFA/Getty Images
Updated
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.
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.
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!
Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City scores his team’s equaliser. Photograph: Julian Finney/UEFA/Getty Images
Updated
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: 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.
Raheem Sterling is thwarted by Maxwel Cornet. Photograph: Michael Regan/UEFA/Getty Images
Updated
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.
Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling gets the better of Lyon’s goalscorer Maxwel Cornet. Photograph: Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images
Lyon keeper Anthony Lopes pounces on the ball. Photograph: Matthew Ashton/AMA/Getty Images
Updated
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.
Manchester City’s Kyle Walker is tackled by Lyos’ Fernando Marcal. Photograph: Franck Fife/Pool/Reuters
Updated
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.
Updated
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.
