It was another heartbreak for Cristiano Ronaldo. Real Madrid crashed out of the Champions League and now former Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo falls just one goal short of guiding Juventus to the quarter-finals in his homeland Lisbon.
Lyon had a 1-0 advantage from the first leg but it was some mad referee decisions which saw two penalties given, one to each side in the first half. Depay and Ronaldo converted the spot-kick for their teams successfully.
In the second half, Ronaldo scored a stunner by his left foot, which doesn’t seem to be his weak foot anymore! Juventus went 2-1 up on the night but the aggregate score was 2-2 with Lyon winning due to the away goal.
Just one more goal. Come on! #FinoAllaFine#JuveOL #JuveUCL pic.twitter.com/j1f2HENWYm
— JuventusFC (#Stron9er 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆) (@juventusfcen) August 7, 2020
Surprisingly, Juventus has scored 7 goals in the knockout phase of the Champions League in the last two seasons and all of them have been scored by Cristiano Ronaldo. He is clearly way above this Juventus team who isn’t providing him enough support to win matches in the Champions League. Juventus missed many chances as Higuain looked clearly past his prime.
Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri told Sky: “I expected less. I thought we put in a great performance this evening.”
“We went behind to a penalty after 10 minutes that could’ve sent us crazy. We completed the comeback, won the game, created six or seven scoring opportunities. The team has revitalised itself over the last few days, and if they weren’t devastated in their confidence by the elimination, I’d be very satisfied with their performance.”
“Unfortunately, we went out because of the first leg, in fact, the first half of the first leg. It’s a competition that takes no prisoners, as, after our great results in the tournament, we are still out.”
Lyon coach Garcia told Sky Italia: “It’s one of the most satisfying moments of my career and getting past Juventus really is an exploit. The penalty we conceded just before half-time hurt us, Juve hadn’t been that dangerous until then and it gave them confidence.”
“Ronaldo then scored that real Champions League level goal, but we stayed calm and that was what I appreciated the most about my team. We didn’t panic, we kept plugging away and everyone contributed to keeping the ball. It was tough for Juve to do better without Paulo Dybala, but we proved that we have a strong defence, as we also held out Paris Saint-Germain for 120 minutes in the cup last week.”
“I know this stadium, I came here with Roma, so I know how tough it is to win here. Let’s just say this is the happiest defeat of my career!”
Cristiano Ronaldo took this season’s goal tally to 37 goals, which broke an all-time Juventus record for most goals in a single season. Despite an outstanding performance from the 35-year-old, Juventus failed to progress.
They clearly need to sit and re-evaluate their game plan and the way forward for the team.
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