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Lyon Stuns Manchester City to Reach Champions League Semifinals

Pep Guardiola was eyeing a semifinal for Man City against his former side Bayern Munich, but it's Lyon that's through after a stunning 3-1 win.

Avi Creditor

Once again, Pep Guardiola's Manchester City has fallen short of the Champions League semifinals. 

Guardiola had his eye on a matchup against one of his former clubs, Bayern Munich, but Lyon spoiled the party, dumping Man City out in the quarterfinals with a stunning 3-1 victory on Sunday in Lisbon, Portugal.

Goals from substitute Moussa Dembele in the 79th and 87th minutes sandwiched a missed sitter from Raheem Sterling and sent Lyon to its first semifinal in 10 years–which was also against Bayern Munich (a 4-0 aggregate loss). For City, it marks a third quarterfinal defeat to go along with a last-16 exit in Guardiola's four years in charge despite a massive financial outlay in that time. 

Maxwel Cornet's 24th-minute goal had Lyon leading Man City until Kevin De Bruyne pulled even in the 69th, but Dembele came off the bench to restore the lead in the last of the quarterfinal matchups. Lyon's prize is that Wednesday semifinal and 2010 rematch against Bayern, which will be coming in off the heels of an 8-2 dismantling of Barcelona.

Man City went with what appeared to be a more conservative lineup, with Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez and David Silva all left on the bench. Nevertheless, it was City that was out on the front foot, with Sterling nearly setting up Gabriel Jesus for a close-range look into an empty net. Sterling got in behind and nudged the ball off the outside of his boot, but Marcal made a last-ditch sliding effort to intervene and prevent the pass from reaching its target.

Marcal contributed on the other end as well. After a crisp counterattack resulted in a corner kick in the 10th minute, a dodgy clearance fell to the Lyon defender, who ripped a 20-yard, low shot on frame, only for Ederson to have it covered.

Ederson did not have Lyon's next chance covered at all. Marcal played a long ball out of the back for Karl Toko Ekambi, who was played onside by Kyle Walker and got in behind Eric Garcia. Ederson raced off his line as Garcia made the tackle, but the ball fell for Cornet, who bent his long-range chance inside the near post. It was his fourth goal against Man City in the last two seasons after he had three against the English side in two group-stage games.

Man City pushed for an immediate equalizer, and it nearly came in the 31st minute. Joao Cancelo sent in a dangerous cross that goalkeeper Anthony Lopes dove out to meet. He yielded a rebound for Ilkay Gundogan, but he recovered in time to block the follow-up, point-blank chance.

Lopes made a stronger save in the 40th minute, delivering a two-handed punch to deny De Bruyne on a curling, powerful free kick.

Another chance before halftime unfolded after Sterling was played down the right inside the Lyon box. He cut back a ball for Rodri, who didn't get full power on his shot and had it saved by a diving Lopes, who scrambled to cover the rebound as well.

Cornet came up with a defensive stop moments later, denying Sterling at the right post after a fabulous outside-of-the-boot ball from De Bruyne, which had picked out Sterling in stride, only for the goalscorer to come up with a sliding block. Lopes appeared to have it covered, as well.

Man City's first significant change came in the 56th minute, when Mahrez replaced Fernandinho, signifying a tactical move to a more aggressive approach.

De Bruyne had another free kick denied by Lopes in the 60th minute, curling his chance toward the near post, only for the Lyon keeper to comfortably save it with a diving punch.

Another De Bruyne free kick from about the same spot curled wide of the far post six minutes later.

De Bruyne finally had got his equalizer in the 69th minute. Sterling got in deep down the left and cut back a ball for the Belgian in the center of the box. He passed the ball into the far end of the net from there, making it 1-1.

Man City nearly took the lead three minutes later, with Jesus trying to power one inside the near post, only for Lopes to make a sprawling save.

Jesus flubbed another chance soon after, as Sterling lobbed a cross from one post to the other, where the Brazilian stood unmarked. He could only bounce a harmless volley over the net, though, spoiling the opportunity.

Despite Man City appearing to be in complete control, Lyon retook the lead. Houssem Aouar's ball split the Man City defense and avoided an offside Ekambi, allowing Dembele to waltz in and measure a shot from outside the top of the box that hit off Ederson but trickled into the back of the net to make it 2-1 in the 79th minute. Dembele had appeared to foul Aymeric Laporte in the build-up, but that wasn't called, and the goal stood.

The game then turned for good on a wild sequence of events. First, Sterling missed an absolute sitter, somehow hitting over the bar from point-blank range in the face of an empty net after a deft setup from Jesus, failing to make it 2-2.

A minute later, Dembele scored his second, with Ederson spilling a rebound on the doorstep and allowing the supersub to make it 3-1, an emotional and practical dagger for Man City, whose hopes of conquering Europe are put off for yet another season.

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Here were the lineups for both teams:

Whichever one between Lyon and Bayern Munich reaches the final will face either PSG or RB Leipzig for the title on Aug. 23.

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Avi Creditor
AVI CREDITOR

Avi Creditor is a senior editor and has covered soccer for more than a decade. He’s also a scrappy left back. 

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