Chapter 192 Reaching the Champions League Quarter-Finals
Trailing by two goals on aggregate, Lyon began to get anxious, while Real Madrid, who were in the lead, were equally unsatisfied, and the fierce attacking battle between the two sides continued.
In the 42nd minute, Lloris saved Di Maria's shot and passed the ball to midfield. Five or six players from both sides rushed towards the ball's landing point, and Khedira eventually broke past Briand to get the ball.
It was a legitimate collision, but the referee didn't blow the whistle. Khedira passed the ball to Fino in front of him, who then dribbled through the middle.
Facing the combined blockade of Toulalan and Shelstrom, Fino played a one-two with Ronaldo on the left flank, passing the ball to Ronaldo before quickly weaving between Toulalan and Shelstrom, then receiving a back pass from Ronaldo and continuing forward.
As he approached the penalty area line, Fino calmly took a shot and lobbed the ball into the face of Lyon's goal.
Di Maria, Benzema, Alonso, and several Lyon defenders rushed towards the ball's landing point, but Benzema was the first to get there and headed the ball into the goal.
Lloris guessed the right direction again, but couldn't prevent the ball from going into the net.
However, the linesman quickly raised his flag to indicate that Benzema was offside, and the goal was disallowed.
The first half ended with a score of 1-0, with Real Madrid leading by one goal at home and two goals on aggregate.
On their way back to the locker room, Ronaldo happily put his arm around Fino's shoulder and whispered to him as they walked.
In this match, the two players cooperated extremely well, with several one-two passes and exchanges being perfectly timed, showing a kind of telepathic understanding, which made Ronaldo feel extremely happy playing.
Fino was naturally delighted to have scored a goal. As he responded to Ronaldo, he didn't forget to turn around and look for Alonso. Sure enough, he saw Alonso walking towards the locker room while watching them from a distance.
Fino extended his hand to Alonso, gesturing for him to come over. After Alonso quickly walked over, Fino put his arm around Ronaldo's waist with one hand and took Alonso's hand with the other. The three of them walked side by side toward the locker room.
Upon seeing this, the commentators and guest commentators started chatting about off-stage gossip to keep viewers interested and prevent them from switching channels during halftime.
"Last winter, there were rumors that Cabrini and Ronaldo had gotten into a fight. Looking at the current situation, the rumors should be proven false. Speaking of which, when the second generation of Galácticos was first formed, many media outlets predicted that Ronaldo, Kaká, and Cabrini, the three Ballon d'Or winners and Ballon d'Or nominees, would fight fiercely. No one expected that their relationship would be so good."
The commentator continued, "Cabrini and Kaká had a very good relationship when they were in Milan. During last year's World Cup, Cabrini even angrily confronted Brazilian fans in support of Kaká. You know, Cabrini is a very diplomatic player, very good at playing it safe. His only two heated statements were one for Maldini and the other for Kaká. It's a bit hard to understand why Ronaldo has such a friendly relationship with the Milan duo. Kaká is one thing, but Cabrini has won the Ballon d'Or for two consecutive years, practically the best player in the world right now, and he's also a top player at Real Madrid. Given Ronaldo's personality, being overshadowed would be very uncomfortable, wouldn't it?"
"But Cabrini's two Ballon d'Or awards are completely uncontroversial. The first year was for leading Milan to a Serie A and Champions League double, and the second year was for leading Italy to the World Cup. In those two years, Ronaldo simply couldn't compete, that's a fact," the commentator explained, then chuckled maliciously. "If they really want to fight, it'll probably be during this year's Ballon d'Or selection. There are no major tournaments this year, so national team performance doesn't matter, and they're both on equal footing at the club level. They're both important players, so Real Madrid and Mendes' team will probably have a real headache then."
The commentator chuckled, "That depends on Real Madrid's performance this season. What if they don't do well..."
Before he could finish speaking, the director frantically gestured to them to shut up and quickly change the subject.
The TV station's phones are ringing off the hook, with countless Real Madrid fans complaining that the commentator is stirring up trouble within the team and even dared to curse Real Madrid's performance...
"Ahem, let's take a look back at the highlights of the first half!" The commentator abruptly changed the subject.
We were having so much fun gossiping that we forgot we were live streaming...
The second half began with the teams switching sides.
Real Madrid maintained their starting lineup from the first half, while Lyon substituted Gomis for the ineffective Briand in the first half.
After Gomis came on, Delgado returned to the right wing, and Lisandro moved to the left wing, but this substitution did not have a good effect.
Lisandro seemed somewhat lost on the left flank, and Lyon's attack was stifled by Real Madrid's increasingly sophisticated defensive coordination, making it difficult for them to even break into the opponent's half.
Unable to break through, Lyon's players visibly grew impatient and became more aggressive, earning two yellow cards within just ten minutes: Gourcuff tripped Benzema, and Sissoko tackled Ramos.
Lyon isn't considered a particularly aggressive team in Ligue 1, but they tend to get incredibly fired up when facing Real Madrid—and then dominate them. In their previous encounters this season, Lyon remained unbeaten with three wins and three draws, giving them a significant psychological advantage over Real Madrid.
Even though Real Madrid defeated them 2-1 in the first leg at home, this psychological advantage, which had been building up for several years, remained unchanged and carried over into the second leg.
Real Madrid players will not tolerate Lyon. The first leg has already broken Real Madrid's mental block, and in the second leg at home, they will teach Lyon a lesson.
Since Mourinho took over, Real Madrid has maintained a perfect record at the Bernabéu in all three competitions. In terms of psychological advantage, Real Madrid players are only stronger.
In the 65th minute, after Real Madrid's attack on the right flank failed, Lyon seized the opportunity of Real Madrid's left flank being undefended and prepared to launch an attack from the right flank (Real Madrid's left flank).
Revere and Delgado combined to dribble from the center to the right wing, with Marcelo and Alonso closely following behind them, looking for an opportunity to intercept the ball.
As he approached the right sideline, Rewele passed the ball forward to Delgado, who was already close to Real Madrid's penalty area, but Marcelo intercepted it with his foot.
After receiving the ball, Marcelo made a slight adjustment and then launched a long diagonal pass, sending the ball towards the central attacking area.
Fino intercepted the ball from Chris, but before he could dribble into the Lyon penalty area, he was tripped by Lovren who slid in, and the ball rolled into the penalty area.
Lovren didn't get the ball; he went for the player, which was a clear foul. But Benzema suddenly appeared from behind, got to the ball first, and dribbled into the penalty area.
The referee, believing Real Madrid had the upper hand, did not immediately whistle to stop the game. Chris, mistakenly thinking the referee would blow the whistle, reacted too slowly and failed to keep up with Benzema. Benzema calmly entered Lyon's penalty area and found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
Lloris, who had thwarted Real Madrid's shots multiple times in this match, once again chose to take the initiative, and the two former Lyon friends met again in Lyon's penalty area.
They were once the closest comrades-in-arms, but now they have become the most familiar adversaries.
Facing Lloris's diving save, Benzema pulled the ball to the side, avoiding Lloris, and then pushed the ball into the empty net.
Lloris, already on the ground, could only watch helplessly as Real Madrid scored another goal.
Real Madrid won 2-0 at home, leading Lyon 4-1 on aggregate.
This goal practically sealed Lyon's fate. Lyon needed to score three more goals to turn the tide, which was an almost impossible task with only 20 minutes left and Lyon already struggling against Real Madrid's defense.
Two minutes later, Real Madrid launched another attack. Di Maria played a through ball from the right wing to Fino, who dribbled past Sissoko and chipped the ball over the heads of Chris and Shelstrom. Benzema jumped high in the middle and headed the ball, but Lloris caught it with both hands.
Lloris threw the ball to Reweier, and Lyon launched a quick counter-attack.
Through passes from Revere, Toulalan, and Delgado, the ball entered Real Madrid's half. When Delgado launched a long pass to Gomis on the right side of the penalty area, Carvalho headed the ball away first. Marcelo and Gourcuff collided while vying for the ball, both falling to the ground.
The referee ruled that Gourcuff got to the ball first, and that Marcelo was heading towards him, so he showed Marcelo a yellow card and awarded Lyon a free kick.
The free kick was located near the bottom right corner of Real Madrid's penalty area, a pretty good position.
Gourcuff didn't coordinate with his teammates and instead took a free kick directly. Casillas finally got a rare chance to perform in this match, punching the ball away, which landed right at Ramos's feet.
Ramos dribbled the ball forward down the right flank, and Real Madrid began to shift from defense to attack, launching counter-attacks.
The players from both sides who were just forming a wall immediately dispersed and ran towards Lyon's half.
Ramos dribbled forward a few steps and then passed the ball to Fino on the left. Fino received the ball and immediately passed it out again, this time targeting Alonso.
At this moment, Marcelo and Ronaldo both made forward runs from the left wing. Alonso continued to pass the ball to Ronaldo on the left wing. Ronaldo dribbled past Revere and went down the byline. After not finding a suitable path to cut inside, he crossed the ball to Fino on the outside of the penalty arc.
Ronaldo's pass was a bit high. At that moment, Fino was surrounded by three defenders. If he hesitated even slightly, he could easily be intercepted by the three defenders. However, Fino had already seen Di Maria making a run behind him out of the corner of his eye, so he simply headed the ball down.
Di Maria burst out from behind Fino, received the ball, and entered the penalty area to create a one-on-one opportunity.
Lloris launched another attack, and Di Maria chipped the ball with his left foot the instant Lloris landed. The ball went over Lloris's head and went straight into the net.
Real Madrid won 3-0 at home, making the aggregate score 5-1.
At this point, Real Madrid had only 13 minutes left to advance to the Champions League quarterfinals.
The cheers at the Bernabéu were deafening, and the fans were bursting with excitement.
In the final 13 minutes, Real Madrid switched from attack to defense. Mourinho first substituted Adebayor for the recovering Cristiano Ronaldo, and a few minutes later, he replaced goal scorer Di Maria with Granero. In the 84th minute, Mourinho used his last substitution, replacing Benzema with Lass Diarra.
As the match ticked away, the score remained 3-0 until the very end, with Lyon unable to mount a comeback.
Real Madrid have reached the Champions League quarterfinals again after a six-year absence.
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Author's note: Thank you everyone for your support! [cheering emoji]
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