Twitter reacts as Lyon stun Manchester City in the Champions League quarter-final

Lyon players celebrating a goal against Manchester City.
Lyon players celebrating a goal against Manchester City.

Just 24 hours after Barcelona's annihilation at the hands of Bayern Munich, another spectacle unfolded at the Champions League as Manchester City crashed out of the competition at the quarter-final stage for the third year running.

Manchester City were clear favourites to win their quarter-final tie against Olympique Lyonnais. However, the French side had something really special up their sleeves as they stunned the English giants by beating them 3-1.

Lyon were expected to play counter-attacking football, with Manchester City keeping most of the possession. That was exactly how the game progressed as Manchester City maintained ball possession without making many attacking moves.

The French side, however, had a clear game plan and were always on the lookout to initiate a counter-attacking move. Lyon's approach paid off when they took the lead in the 24th minute through Maxwel Cornet who scored his fourth goal against Manchester City in three games.

With the first half ending 0-1 in favour of Lyon, the French side were only 45 minutes away from reaching the semi-final of the competition for the first time since 2009-10.

Manchester City bossed possession but failed to make it count:

The second half saw a more dominant play from Pep Guardiola's side as they started to look threatening in the final third. Kevin de Bruyne equalised in the 69th minute as the momentum seemed to drastically shift towards Manchester City.

However, Lyon never gave up and stuck to their game-plan of attacking on the counter. That was a tactic which once again worked when substitute Moussa Dembele gave them the lead.

The goal was checked by VAR as Toko Ekambi was in an offside position, and it appeared as if he made contact with the ball before it rolled over to Dembele. But the VAR check confirmed that Ekambi let the ball go past him, and the goal stood.

Raheem Sterling then had a golden opportunity of restoring parity in the 86th minute but he put a simple tap-in over the crossbar. A minute later, Dembele put the final nail in Manchester City's coffin. Ederson was unable to contain a shot from Houssem Aouar, and the ball fell nicely for the 24-year-old striker who made no mistake in nudging it into the back of the net.

When the referee blew the final whistle, there were screams of jubilation in the Lyon camp and looks of complete disarray in Manchester City's dugout. Twitterati witnessed a major upset for the second consecutive day and reacted accordingly.


Quick Links

App download animated image Get the free App now