Champions League: Cristiano Ronaldo nets 2 but Juventus knocked out by Lyon

A Portugal worldwide celebrated ecstatically on the finish of the Champions League match between Juventus and Lyon on Friday.

But it wasn’t Cristiano Ronaldo, who may solely trudge off the pitch dejected after Juventus was eradicated from the competitors regardless of his two targets securing a 2-1 victory within the rearranged second-leg match.

Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes raced to the tip the place the away followers ought to have been, jumped over the promoting hoardings and sat on prime of the Perspex fence on the entrance of the stands, kissing the badge on his shirt and pumping his fists within the air in celebration.

Lyon had eradicated Juventus and progressed to the quarterfinals on away targets after a 2-2 draw on combination.

“It’s a huge joy. It was really hard,” Lopes stated. “The group was incredible collectively and individually. It’s the victory of the whole group.”

Lyon will face Manchester City within the single-elimination quarterfinals in Lisbon after the English workforce beat Real Madrid 2-1 on the night time to progress 4-2 on combination.

“We have the ambition to go far in this competition,” Lopes continued. “We have the right to think about it, no one can take that away.

“We needed a real strength of character to do it tonight.”

There have been no followers allowed within the stadium in Turin due to the coronavirus pandemic. Although a crowd of about 50 Juventus followers have been exterior to welcome their workforce in addition to hurl insults on the Lyon workforce bus.

The Juventus-Lyon match was rescheduled from March 17 after the pandemic which shut down sports activities across the globe. The French league didn’t resume whereas Juventus struggled after the restart of Serie A however nonetheless claimed a record-extending ninth successive title.

Lyon captain Memphis Depay wouldn’t have been in a position to play had the match taken place as scheduled as a result of he had a severe knee damage.

He scored an early penalty with a cheeky chip down the center after Houssem Aouar went down within the space below a problem from Rodrigo Bentancur.

Depay additionally conceded a penalty on the finish of the primary half after Miralem Pjanić’s free kick hit his arm.

Ronaldo transformed and doubled his tally on the hour mark when he curled a incredible strike into the highest proper nook. It prolonged his all-time file within the competitors to 131 targets.

That was Ronaldo’s 37th aim in all competitors for Juventus, breaking a 95-year-old membership file.

Ronaldo went near scoring the aim that may have seen Juventus via however headed a nook narrowly over the bar from shut vary.

Key Juventus ahead Paulo Dybala was recovering from a thigh damage and was on the bench. He was introduced on within the second half however needed to be substituted simply 14 minutes later.

“Tonight, we played a great match … at 2-1, we created three or four chances,” Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri stated.

“If I weren’t morally devastated by the elimination, I would be happy with tonight’s performance, because we brought out so much energy and the team responded with character.”

It was Juve’s earliest elimination from the competitors for the reason that 2015-16 season. The membership has, nevertheless, struggled to switch its home domination to Europe and it hasn’t received the Champions League since 1996.

“There is great disappointment, because this club has to aspire for more in Europe,” Pjanic stated. “We must not belittle what we have done, because winning is not easy, we have made it seem so in recent years, but certainly in the Champions League, with this squad, this team can and must try to win.

“However, I am convinced that this group will continue to do well.”

It was Pjanić’s final match for Juventus because the midfielder will transfer to Barcelona in a swap deal for Arthur.