Lyon crushes Manchester City's dream of Champions League glory

Manchester City was heavily favoured to win the quarter-final knockout match against Olympique Lyonnais on Saturday night in Lisbon. However, the French side stunned the Sky Blues by orchestrating an emphatic 3-1 victory.

Lyon was strong from the opening whistle and Maxwel Cornet opened up his account in the 24th minute, putting Manchester City on the back foot early in the game. Lyon kept the momentum up until half-time, keeping City's attack silenced throughout the first half.

A revival seemed to be underway when Raheem Sterling and Kevin de Bruyne teamed up to find an equaliser in the 69th minute. It was back on equal terms and both teams fought hard until the closing stages.

It was substitute striker Moussa Dembele who finally tipped the scales in favour of the French side by scoring with 11 minutes of regulation time remaining. However, it was a goal marred by controversy after the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) failed to review a possible foul by Dembele on his charged to find the back of the net. The goal was given and City found themselves with a deficit and ten minutes to find another equaliser.

However, Lyon had other plans as they sealed their semi-final spot when Dembele scored a second goal off an error by Ederson. With just minutes to go, Manchester City could not do anything to alter the 3-1 scoreline.

Manchester City was favoured to advance and this is considered to be an upset. Football fans all over the world were looking forward to seeing how Guardiola's men would fare against a red-hot Bayern Munich side which has just humiliated FC Barcelona 8-2 in their quarter-final match.

Pep Guardiola will have to try for the trophy again next season, but it won't be any easier. In fact, they may have already missed the chance when they lost to Real Madrid in the 2016 semi-finals. Right now, they appear to be on a downward slope compared to the last few years. Liverpool had already cut their dominance of the Premier League by taking the title this season.

In Europe, PSG and Juventus are just as hungry to claim the title after a long drought. Bayern Munich has a squad that will prove competitive for several more years and Real Madrid can never be written off when it comes to the Champions League.