Olympique Lyon v Real Madrid – UEFA Champions League: First half report (Part 1)
The match between Lyon and Real Madrid started off as a tense affair, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/AS-Real-c38478 Madrid were the first team to push forward.
Cristiano Ronaldo tried to play in Mesut Ozil down the left hand side but the ball was intercepted by Cris in the centre of Olympique Lyon’s defence.
The game’s first booking came in the 9th minute of the first half as Sergio Ramos mistimed his tackle on Cesar. At first it looked as if the referee was going to let the Spanish full back get away with just a warning but upon further pressure
and protests by Lyon’s players, the match official produced a yellow card for the former Sevilla right back.
In the 12th minute of the match, Real Madrid almost found the back of the net as Cris went down inside his own penalty area following some pressure from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Cristiano-Ronaldo-c9629 but the Brazilian centre back was bailed out by the referee as Ronaldo was
penalized for a push on the defenders back.
As soon as the referee blew his whistle for the foul, Real Madrid’s players surrounded him to protests against the decision but the match official stuck to his guns as Lyon were awarded a free kick.
The first half had a nasty overtone to it as tackles flew in left and right throughout the 45 minutes. In the 20th minute of the match, the referee had to blow his whistle once again as he awarded Real Madrid a free kick for a foul on http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Álvaro-Arbeloa-c5282.
The set piece was taken by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Xabi-Alonso-c37045 but it was a particularly disappointing one as the ball sailed over the heads of all the Real Madrid players inside the Lyon penalty area.
In the 22nd minute, Real Madrid were put on the back foot as Lyon squeezed a corner out of Arbeloa down the right hand side. The corner kick was floated in by Yohan Gourcuff but http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ricardo-Carvalho-c30973 was on hand to head the ball away as Real Madrid
breathed a sigh of relief.
In the 24th minute, Lyon broke into a superb counter attack as the ball was whipped in by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Michel-Bastos-c25461 towards the Real Madrid penalty area.
However, just as Gourcuff was about to make substantial contact with the ball, Xabi Alonso showed great defensive awareness to clear his team’s defensive lines as the ball went out of play for a Olympique Lyon throw in.
In the 26th minute, Real Madrid built up a good period of possession but in the end the ball was squandered by Xabi Alonso as the Spanish midfielder’s eventual shot on goal was deflected out for a Lyon corner kick via http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Emmanuel-Adebayor-c12526.
In the 28th minute, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sergio-Ramos-c33096 was in trouble yet again as he tackled Delgado inside the Real Madrid penalty area. The crowd screamed for a penalty kick but the referee deemed Sergio’s challenge as a fair one as Real Madrid cleared their lines.
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