A Portugal international celebrated ecstatically at the end of the Champions League match between Juventus and Olympique Lyonnais on Friday, but it was not Cristiano Ronaldo, who could only trudge off the pitch dejected after Juventus were eliminated from the competition, despite his two goals securing a 2-1 victory in the rearranged second-leg match.
Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes raced to the end where the away fans should have been, jumped over the advertising hoardings and sat on top of the Perspex fence at the front of the stands, kissing the badge on his shirt and pumping his fists in the air in celebration.
Lyon had eliminated Juventus and progressed to the quarter-finals on away goals after a 2-2 draw on aggregate.
Photo: AFP
“It’s a huge joy. It was really hard,” Lopes said. “The group was incredible collectively and individually. It’s the victory of the whole group.”
Lyon face Manchester City in the single-elimination quarter-finals in Lisbon after the English team progressed against Real Madrid.
“We have the ambition to go far in this competition,” Lopes said. “We have the right to think about it, no one can take that away.”
Photo: AFP
“We needed a real strength of character to do it tonight,” he said.
There were no fans allowed in the stadium in Turin because of COVID-19 restrictions, although about 50 Juventus fans were outside to welcome their team and hurl insults at the Lyon team bus.
The Juventus-Lyon match was rescheduled from March 17 after pandemic lockdowns halted sports around the globe. Ligue 1 did not resume and Juventus struggled after the restart of Serie A, but nevertheless claimed a record-extending ninth successive title.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Lyon captain Memphis Depay would not have been able to play had the match taken place as scheduled because he had a serious knee injury.
He scored an early penalty with a cheeky chip down the middle after Houssem Aouar went down in the area under a challenge from Rodrigo Bentancur.
Depay also conceded a penalty at the end of the first half after Miralem Pjanic’s free-kick hit his arm.
Ronaldo converted and doubled his tally on the hour mark, when he curled a fantastic strike into the top-right corner. It extended his all-time record in the competition to 131 goals.
That was Ronaldo’s 37th goal in all competition for Juventus, breaking a 95-year-old club record.
Ronaldo went close to scoring the goal that would have seen Juventus through, but headed a corner narrowly over the bar.
Key Juventus forward Paulo Dybala was recovering from a thigh injury and was on the bench. He was brought on in the second half, but had to be substituted just 14 minutes later.
“Tonight, we played a great match ... at 2-1, we created three or four chances,” Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri said. “If I weren’t morally devastated by the elimination, I would be happy with tonight’s performance, because we brought out so much energy and the team responded with character.”
It was Juve’s earliest elimination from the competition since the 2015-2016 season. The team have struggled to transfer their domestic domination to Europe and have not won the Champions League since 1996.
“There is great disappointment, because this club has to aspire for more in Europe,” Pjanic said. “We must not belittle what we have done, because winning is not easy, we have made it seem so in recent years, but certainly in the Champions League, with this squad, this team can and must try to win.”
“However, I am convinced that this group will continue to do well,” he said.
It was Pjanic’s last match for Juventus, as the midfielder is to move to Barcelona in a swap deal for Arthur..
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
One of Malaysia’s top soccer clubs has pulled out of today’s season-opening Charity Shield after a spate of assaults, including an acid attack, on players in the country. It leaves the kickoff of Malaysia’s season this weekend under a cloud following the unprecedented acts of violence against players, which have left the country shocked and angry. Authorities said they have imposed tighter security, but Selangor said that they would not play in the showpiece curtain-raiser against Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats.” Selangor and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim is in intensive care