Real Madrid denied the passing of Alonso, installed renegade genius Guti into the team, with a 4-4-2 that saw Kaka-Ronaldo-Higuain break forward at any opportunity to try score the goals. Lyon on the otherhand played a 4-5-1 with Lisandro exiled deep into hostile territory, and he could only hope that Pjanic and Govou would break forward on the flanks whilst a tight midfield trio of Toulalan-Makoun-Delgado would try protect Cris and Boumsong.

Immediately from kick off, Madrid meant business, Kaka breaking forward forcing Lloris into animation within 20 seconds. The noise in the Bernabeu was raucous, and  Madrid piled the pressure, the magic trio of Ronaldo-Kaka-Higuain were running hard at the Lyon defence and having a lot of luck as well. The genius of Guti was clear for all to see, his left foot sent a delicious pass in the alley of Ronaldo who sped forward and fired through the legs of Lloris on the angle, 1-0, 1-1 on aggregate, game on.

Lyon however kept at it, Makoun had a clear shot in the box but fluffed it, then a set piece by Pjanic was nearly headed in, but in between this, Higuain managed to hit the post after rounding Lloris and then elected to shoot after a fine Kaka backheel pass, maybe he should have passed to Ronaldo who was clear and had a better angle. Half time came, and there was still the belief that unless Madrid got the second goal, Lyon still had it in them to steal a goal.

Claude Puel has been savaged for his tactical choices in Ligue 1, and he looked to have displayed his eccentricity again by introducing Kallstrom and Gonalons for Boumsong and Makoun, the Lyon midfield was just about keeping Madrid at bay, despite having less than 40% of the ball in the first half, why change it? This all looked clear after 5 mins of the restart, Madrid who had been the team dictating the narrative, snapping into tackles and launching attacks were now the ones backing off and watching Gonalons-Kallstrom-Delgado-Pjanic launch wave after wave of attack and string their passes together.

Gonalons-Govou and Lisandro all went close to scoring whilst the boos rang out from the fans watching their team lose control of the game, Kaka having his powerful drive go 5m wide. Pjanic sent over an inch perfect freekick that Cris contrived to miss with him one-on-one with Casillas. The end however came after a well worked move down the left, Delgado and Kallstrom strung some neat passes to displace the Madrid defenders, and a loose ball from Lisandro saw Pjanic muscle in and smash his shot home, 1-1, 2-1 on aggregate, Madrid needed two more to win the tie now.

Pelligrini decided to probably sign his sacking warrant, taking off Kaka for Raul, yes Kaka had a bad game, but surely when you need two goals, why take off a player who can always do something special, even on a bad day? His next sub was bringing on M.Diarra for  Arbeloa, what about Gago who could add more service for the strikers? Very baffling indeed, and as it transpired, Madrid couldn't fight back. There was even enough time for Lisandro to miss a one-on-one with more time to prepare than SWAT team that picks out their target, a truly shocking miss. Delgado had a similar chance only to lose his cool at the moment of glory. The Final Whistle sounded, half the Bernabeu empty, the Spectacular Sporting Project in the dumps.

Congratulations to Lyon, over 2 legs, they can be a dangerous opponent to face, they enter their fourth quarter finals in the last 10 years, and will be looking to progress to the semi's, seeing as they are virtually out of the Ligue 1 race.

Real Madrid, I was checking with 10mins to go if they had announced the sacking of Pelligrini on their website yet. He has done a fine job in La Liga, but today, his team lacked direction, desire, personality and a clear idea of what they had to achieve. It seemed the plan was get the ball to the front three and hope for the best. His tactical substitutions also left a lot to be desired, never take off attackers when chasing a game, Kaka has scored 24 goals in the Europe, even if he was playing badly, he can always surprise you. Also seems that it was a mistake to let Ruud Van Niestelrooy leave on a cheap deal, he is a goal machine and gives the team structure. They also never played collectively in the second half, and even though Ronaldo is a €95m player, he is not a god, they all expected him to do it all. He can take 2-3 players out of a game with his skills, not 11.

This summer could be a scary one, teams with players that will improve this Madrid side better watch out, Ribery-Fabregas-Vidic-Lahm-Clichy-Vargas etc will be high on the shopping list. The only positions they won't buy is a keeper, the rest, they could look for new players, so word of advice, CEO's better tie down their key talent to deals yesterday, because the beast will be unleashed shortly.