Lyon send Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid packing

By Ben On March 10, 2010 · Leave a Comment

Florentino Pérez did not spend £240m for this. Real Madrid may have gone to the top of the league on Sunday night but this season was always going to be defined by the European Cup, the tournament to which Madrid believe they have a divine right. The final will be held at the Bernabéu but they will not be there, except as hosts. For the sixth successive season they have been eliminated at the first knockout stage. When it comes to European competition it turns out that the biggest club of them all is not really a big club at all.

A second-half goal by Miralem Pjanic nullified Cristiano Ronaldo’s early opener – a goal that promised to make this an easy passage into the quarter-final. As he struck the ball beyond Iker Casillas the score was levelled at 1-1, leaving the French side 2-1 up on aggregate and Madrid needing two goals in a quarter of an hour. They did not find them. Lyon nearly made it even more humiliating, only to waste two glorious breakaway chances in the dying minutes, after Madrid’s impressive first half gave way to an utterly impotent second. @Guardian