REAL MADRID OUT OF CHAMPION’S LEAGUE AFTER HOME DRAW TO LYON

Real Madrid will be hosting the Champion’s League final this year at their Bernabeu home field.  Unfortunately, if they want to be in attendance they’ll have to buy a ticket.
On Thursday they were bounced from the competition at the round of sixteen for the sixth straight year as they could do no better than a 1-1 home draw with French side Lyon.
Lyon won a hard fought 1-0 decision in the opening half of the aggregate score competition one week ago.

Soccer betting devotees who put their money on the game ending in a draw at +460 got a very nice payout.  Madrid had been installed as a -330 home favorite with the takeback on Lyon a whopping +880.  The 2 goals scored went UNDER the posted total of 3.  Real Madrid had scored 15 goals in their first six Champion’s League games this year but could only muster two against the aggressive defending of their French adversary.

The game started out well for the host as Cristiano Ronaldo scored just six minutes in to give Real Madrid a 1-0 lead and even the aggregate tally at 1-1.  Madrid had a host of other opportunities to pad that score, but couldn’t cash in despite generating a total of 17 shots for the game.  It would come back to bite them late in the second half, when Lyon’s Miralem Pjanic evened the game score at the 75 minute mark.  More importantly, it provided Lyon with a 2-1 aggregate advantage and sent Madrid out of the competition.

Madrid midfielder Guti blamed the loss on a lack of teamwork:

"It's a real shame. We showed once again that, in the big games, we are unable to go for the kill.

"We should have played more like a team instead of playing like a group of individuals. In the second half, we didn't play as we should. They started to attack when they saw that we weren't pressing we had before half-time. That was the time to be a team. Now, we can only think about La Liga, which is all we have left."

Real Madrid will now turn its attention to the fight for the La Liga Championship.  They’re currently tied atop the table with Barcelona, both teams having 62 points.  Lyon will now await their quarterfinal opponent in Champion’s League play.  They’ll learn who they’ll face next when quarterfinal seedings are announced next Friday.