UEFA Champions League recap: Manchester City and Olympique Lyon go through to the quarterfinals!

Manchester City 2-1 Real Madrid

Raphael Varane will have a hard time going to sleep tonight after he was the center of attention for all the bad reasons. In the 9th minute, he lost the ball in Real Madrid’s penalty box after a challenge with Gabriel Jesus. Jesus easily picked out Raheem Sterling who tapped in the ball to give Manchester City the lead.

Real Madrid equalized in the 28th minute through a well-timed header from their talisman Karim Benzema. 1-1 in the second half and with all to play for, Gabriel Jesus broke Zinedine Zidane’s hope for another Champions League title in the 68th minute after he capitalized from yet another mistake from Varane.

It was a deserved result. City was dominant throughout the game and only lost composure between their first goal and Madrid’s equalizer. The best player in the match was Kevin de Bruyne, who was outstanding throughout the game. Constantly linking the midfield and the attack, de Bruyne’s constant running, and playmaking abilities were key in City’s win. German Ilkay Gundogan also had a very good game.

City is a good team that pressed energetically throughout the whole game. The only weak link is their central-defense and defensive midfield. Rodri had another average performance and Aymeric Laporte often lost his head with dangerous passes.

Juventus 2-1 Olympique Lyon

City will, somewhat surprisingly, face Olympique Lyon in the quarter-finals who held on to their 1-0 advantage against Maurizio Sarri’s Juventus. It was a game that was defined by mysterious penalty calls. Federico Bernadeschi touched Houssem Aouar leg very slightly in the 12th minute but German referee Felix Zwayer thought it was enough for a penalty. Memphis Depay cooly put the penalty away with a Panenka-Esque type chip.

Juventus got a penalty of their own in the 44th after the ball hit Depay’s arm during a free-kick. Cristiano Ronaldo gave his side hope of going through to the quarters when heading into half-time. It looked like Juventus was going to complete the comeback after Ronaldo scored from a hard shot outside the penalty area in the 60th minute.

But Lyon defended well and deservedly went through to the quarter-final. Bayern Munich plays tomorrow against Chelsea and will face the winner of the Barcelona versus Napoli game.