Real Madrid players, who arrived in Lyon last night, enjoyed a morning walk on Tuesday around the Hilton Hotel in a city which has not proved a happy hunting ground for the Spanish club with the home club winning the first leg 1-0 last season in the Champions League.
In the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu Cristiano Ronaldo gave the home team hope at the with a goal inside six minutes. However, when Lyon emerged for the second half they were transformed and then levelled the tie.
In the 75th minute Pjanić rounded off an incisive move with a finish that ended Real Madrid's hopes of reaching the final in their home stadium also speeding up the departure of their manager at the time, Manuel Pellegrini.
This season the new man in charge is Jose Mourinho, winner of the 2010 tournament, and he arrives in Lyon with what he claims is a more balanced team.
On Monday there was steady rain in the capital of the Rhone Region with a temperate of 9 degrees Celsius and a wind chill making it feel a few degrees cooler. Similar conditions are forecast for Tuesday night's game which may better suit the home side.
Ahead of kick off the French club agreed to shorten the grass after Mourinho went down to the inspect the pitch with the match referee, Wolfgang Stark, following his press conference and said that the grass was too long.
Previous meetings
The clubs first met in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League group stage, Lyon prevailing 3-0 at home through goals from John Carew, Juninho Pernambucano and Sylvain Wiltord. The return finished 1-1, Carew cancelling out a Guti strike.
Lyon retained the upper hand at the same stage in 2006/07. Fred and Tiago earned a 2-0 home victory, before the sides drew 2-2 in Spain. Mahamadou Diarra, who had lined up against the Merengues 12 months earlier, scored against his old club as Madrid retrieved a two-goal deficit.
In last season's round of 16, Jean Makoun's 47th-minute solo effort gave Lyon a first-leg lead and although Cristiano Ronaldo levelled the aggregate scores six minutes into the return at the Santiago Bernabéu, Miralem Pjanić's 75th-minute goal sent Claude Puel's men through 2-1 on aggregate.
The lineups for last term's meeting in France on 16 February 2010 were:
Lyon: Lloris, Réveillère, Cris, Boumsong, Cissokho, Toulalan, Govou, Makoun, Pjanić (Källström 78), Delgado (Michel Bastos 89), Lisandro (Gomis 81).
Real Madrid: Casillas, Arbeloa, Sergio Ramos, Albiol, Marcelo (Garay 46), Mahamadou Diarra, Alonso, Granero, Kaká, Higuaín (Benzema 64), Ronaldo.
No comments:
Post a Comment