Both Olympique Lyonnais and Real Madrid CF square off Wednesday in the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 match-up looking to overcome the hump of reaching the quarterfinals. It has been three years since Lyon has made the quarterfinal stage and Real Madrid have fallen in the round of 16 for a shocking five straight years.
Madrid returns home to the Bernabéu down 1-0 after losing the first leg in France on Feb. 16, but truthfully escaped with a much more favorable result than perhaps should have been granted to Los Galacticos after Lyon dominated play but failed to finish more than once.
Wednesday’s scenarios are fairly simple. If the game finishes 1-0 in favor of Real Madrid after regular time, an extra half hour will be played, while a shutout victory of two or more goals will put Madrid through to the quarterfinals after regulation. Any goal from Lyon, however, will create a predicament for the home side as Lyon will have the ever-critical away goal rule in its favor.
If Lyon can find the back of the net once, Real Madrid will need at least three goals in regulation to win and no overtime scenario will be possible.
The most critical absence for Los Galacticos will be Xavi Alonso, who along with Marcelo is suspended for this match. Pepe (torn knee ligaments) Royston Drenthe (torn left thigh) and Karim Benzema (groin) are also out for this match due to injury.
Lyon has some injury concerns of its own with Anderson (knee, calf, shoulder), François Clerc (knee) and Michel Bastos (thigh) all missing Wednesday’s match.
Real Madrid is coming off of a dramatic 3-2 win over Sevilla on Saturday in which Rafael Van der Vaart’s 90th minute winner sent his squad to the top of the table thanks to a tie-breaker with Barcelona.
Meanwhile, Lyon sits in third place in Ligue 1, two points behind Bordeaux and Montpellier. The French side is coming off of a disappointing 0-0 draw with relegation-bound Boulogne on Saturday.
With Manchester United and AC Milan being the most talked about fixture of the round thanks to the super club status of both and David Beckham’s return to Old Trafford, this Lyon-Real Madrid tie will surely be overlooked on Wednesday. However, the recent failures of both Real Madrid and Lyon to advance deep into the Champions League have been well-documented, making for some interesting story lines as well. Who will get over the hump? The showdown at the Bernabéu on Wednesday will tell.
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