Lyon completed an incredible comeback to beat Manchester City 4-3 in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday night.
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Yaya Touré gave the Premier League champions a 14th-minute lead at the Nou Camp but Alexandre Lacazette equalised on 36 minutes with his fourth goal in four games against his former club. A Sergio Agüero volley took City in front two minutes before the break but Lacazette got Lyon back on level terms five minutes after the restart.
Bernardo Silva, Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi sent City 2-1 up early in the second half, but Bouna Sarr quickly equalised and the home side took a 3-2 lead with 10 minutes remaining.
Eliaquim Mangala missed an 88th-minute penalty for City and will try to put the disappointing result behind him in the second leg at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday 13 July. “I won’t use that [miss],” he said. “I’m ready for the future, maybe this season, in the Champions League or the World Cup. We have a very good opportunity to advance in the Champions League and to get the three points.”
The manager, Pep Guardiola, was left frustrated. “We lost,” he said. “It’s a bitter day, I think the fans are disappointed but I’m very proud of my players because what we did until the last second, until the final whistle, was fantastic. We deserved something special tonight.”
The Belgian Zlatan Ibrahimovic, on his Champions League return with Paris Saint-Germain, also made an emotional return. The Swedish striker scored as PSG came from behind to beat Ajax 2-1 in Marseille.
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Ibrahimovic sent the home crowd into raptures with a brilliant strike on the hour, prodding home from the edge of the area from Julian Draxler’s cross.
The second-half substitute Javier Pastore brought the home side level, but PSG broke the deadlock on 81 minutes when Gelson Martins scored from the penalty spot. Tim Krul saved Moussa Dembélé’s spot-kick on 90 minutes but the Sky Blues held on.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich dominated Real Madrid in their 1-0 Champions League semi-final first-leg victory, while Barcelona beat Juventus 4-2 in one of the biggest surprises of the tournament to progress to the quarter-finals.
In the return matches in Madrid on Wednesday night, Robben put Bayern 1-0 up in the first half after Mats Hummels sent a fine header straight at Luka Modric in the Real goal. Karim Benzema’s penalty nine minutes from time got Real back on level terms but the game had long been over by then.
Robert Lewandowski, who netted Bayern’s second goal, played down the significance of the result in the Champions League. “Real are top-level team, it was a good result but we need to step up now,” he said. “We must prepare well for the second leg and we must leave our fans behind.”
Bayern struggled for any rhythm and Real needed only one chance to equalise. When the former Chelsea player Marco Reus played a flick-on to Robert Lewandowski, his side-footed shot beat Keylor Navas but hit the post and bounced away. Real could have restored parity three minutes later but Vinicius Junior fired straight at Manuel Neuer.
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In La Plata, Barcelona roared back to claim a dramatic victory over Juventus, who are once again without the injured Gianluigi Buffon. They were 2-0 down after 25 minutes but Marcelo headed a consolation just before the interval and led 2-1.
Lucas Digne cut the lead but Javier Mascherano nodded a late winner for Barcelona.
The quarter-finals will be decided in week two of the competition, with the semi-finals on 14 and 14 June and the final on 1 and 1 July.
