Lyon lay Juve low, in quarters
Turin (Italy), Aug. 8: Lyon qualified for the quarter-finals of the Champions League on Friday despite losing 2-1 in Turin.
A goal up after winning February’s first leg, French side Lyon will face Manchester City at the final tournament in Lisbon after drawing 2-2 on aggregate and going through on away goals.
Lyon squeezed past the Italian champions thanks to Memphis Depay’s 12thminute penalty which put Rudi Garcia’s side two goals ahead in the tie and left Juve with a mountain to climb. Needing to score three unanswered goals in order to go through, Cristiano Ronaldo tried his best to drag the Italian champions over the line.
He levelled the scores on the night with a penalty of his own with two minutes left in the opening period before crashing a second home on the hour mark.
However Juve performed poorly and Lyon managed to hold on to set up a clash with Pep Guardiola’s City, who put out 13-time winners Real Madrid, on August 15.
Despite their nine consecutive Italian league titles in a row, Juventus could not get past a French side that finished seventh in Ligue 1 this season.
RONALDO NOT ENOUGH
FOR ‘CURSED’ JUVE Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri said he was “bitter” as the Italian giants crashed out of the Champions League despite a Cristiano Ronaldo double giving the hosts a 2-1 win over the French club on the night.
“I am very bitter, I understand how much this competition is cursed for Juve,” said Sarri.
The Turin side have won the tournament twice, but not since 1996. They have been runnersup seven times, including twice in the last five years.
Sarri’s side were coming off a tough battle to win a ninth consecutive league title in Italy.
Washington, Aug. 8: Lydia Ko produced a barnstorming finish to snatch a one-shot lead with a sixunder-par second round at the LPGA Marathon Classic on Friday.
The former world number one from New Zealand bagged back-to-back birdies on the 17th and 18th holes to leapfrog England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff for sole possession of the lead at Highland Meadows in Sylvania, Ohio.
Ko’s pair of closing birdies bookended a blistering start to her round, when she reeled off four consecutive birdies over the first four holes to move into the lead. Her roller coaster 65 included nine birdies, three bogeys and six pars, leaving her at 13 under after 36 holes.
For most of the second round, it looked as if Ko would have to settle for a share of the lead with Ewart Shadoff.