{"id":277479,"date":"2011-02-22T23:04:03","date_gmt":"2011-02-22T23:04:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/"},"modified":"2011-02-22T23:04:03","modified_gmt":"2011-02-22T23:04:03","slug":"football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/","title":{"rendered":"Football: Late Lyon leveler denies Real Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div readability=\"129.765171504\"><!-- google_ad_section_start --><!-- CONTENT -->  <!-- REAP --><!--startclickprintexclude--><!--===========CAPTION==========--><\/p>\n<div readability=\"8\">\n<p>Bafetimbi Gomis made amends for a glaring first-half miss with an 83rd-minute goal to give Lyon a 1-1 draw with Real Madrid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--===========\/CAPTION=========--> <!--endclickprintexclude--><!-- \/REAP --><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p><b>STORY HIGHLIGHTS<\/b><\/p>\n<ul><!-- google_ad_section_start --><\/p>\n<li>Bafetimbi Gomis scores with seven minutes left to give Lyon a 1-1 draw<\/li>\n<li>Real Madrid took the lead through former Lyon striker Karim Benzema<\/li>\n<li>Nicolas Anelka scores both goals as Chelsea win 2-0 away to Copenhagen<\/li>\n<li>Chelsea&#8217;s hopes of qualifying next year boosted as Premier League rivals Tottenham lose<\/li>\n<p><!-- google_ad_section_end --><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--endclickprintexclude--> <!--startclickprintinclude--> <\/p>\n<p><b>(CNN)<\/b> &#8212; Lyon scored a late equalizer against Real Madrid to deny Karim Benzema a victorious return to his old club on Tuesday, while Chelsea moved towards a place in the Champions League quarterfinals with victory at Copenhagen.<\/p>\n<p>Claude Puel&#8217;s Lyon team are now unbeaten in seven encounters with Real in Europe&#8217;s top club competition.<\/p>\n<p>Nine-time European champions Real had lost in three previous visits to the Stade de Gerland, and last season were knocked out of the competition at the last-16 stage for the sixth year in a row after losing the first leg 1-0.<\/p>\n<p>But this time, with Champions League-winning coach Jose Mourinho at the helm, the Spanish club have a better chance to end that poor run in next month&#8217;s home leg after striker Benzema scored a vital away goal in France.<\/p>\n<p>The 23-year-old, who has struggled to win a regular place since his $50 million signing in 2009, was named as a substitute despite netting in Saturday&#8217;s La Liga win over Levante.<\/p>\n<p>  <!--startclickprintexclude--><\/p>\n<div>\n<div readability=\"7\">\n<div readability=\"9\">\n<p>It sets things up well for the second leg, where we will hope to qualify in front of our supporters<br \/><span>&#8211;Real coach Jose Mourinho<\/span>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!--endclickprintexclude--><\/p>\n<p>But he made an instant impact after replacing on-loan Togo forward Emmanuel Adebayor in the 64th minute &#8212; within 60 seconds he burst into the area and poked a low shot over the line despite a desperate attempt to clear by Cris.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At home, in the first leg, we would have preferred them not to score,&#8221; Puel told reporters. &#8220;It&#8217;s a bit of a shame, especially because we played a great first half.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>However, Lyon captain Cris made a vital contribution to last season&#8217;s semifinalists&#8217;  83rd-minute leveler when he rose highest to head a deflected free-kick into the path of France striker Bafetimbi Gomis, who calmly volleyed past goalkeeper Iker Casillas.<\/p>\n<p>Gomis made amends for a poor first-half miss, having blazed a shot over the crossbar with the goal at his mercy in the 34th minute.<\/p>\n<p>Real will be left to rue two efforts that hit the woodwork five minutes after the break.<\/p>\n<p>First Cristiano Ronaldo smashed a free-kick against the far post following a booking to Lyon midfielder Michel Bastos that ruled the Brazilian out of the match at the Santiago Bernabeu on March 16.<\/p>\n<p>Then defender Sergio Ramos, who had just narrowly missed glancing in Ronaldo&#8217;s curled effort, headed against the crossbar from Mesut Ozil&#8217;s corner.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In the second half we managed to find spaces and, to begin with, we were closer to a second goal than Lyon were to an equalizer,&#8221; Mourinho told reporters. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But it sets things up well for the second leg, where we will hope to qualify in front of our supporters.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><b>Chelsea<\/b> manager Carlo Ancelotti dropped striker Didier Drogba for the trip to Denmark, meaning $80 million signing Fernando Torres returned after being ineligible for the English FA Cup defeat by Everton on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>But it was France forward Nicolas Anelka who stole the headlines with both goals in a 2-0 victory over <b>Copenhagen<\/b>, who were playing for the first time since December 5 due to the Danish winter break.<\/p>\n<p>Anelka broke the deadlock in the 17th minute with an opportunist effort after a loose pass by former Chelsea player Jesper Gronkjaer from near the halfway line gave the 31-year-old space to surge forward and drill a low shot past goalkeeper Johan Wiland.<\/p>\n<p>He was again on target nine minutes after the interval, firing his seventh goal of the competition this season from Frank Lampard&#8217;s pass.<\/p>\n<p>He made way for Drogba in the 74th minute, then almost immediately Torres had a shot cleared off the line as Chelsea went on to complete a first win since February 1 to lift some of the pressure on Ancelotti ahead of the second leg at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n<p>Spain World Cup winner Torres is still looking for his first goal since leaving Liverpool three weeks ago and endured another frustrating night.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He played very, very well,&#8221; the Italian said. &#8220;The key to this game was the work the strikers did, always dangerous. Torres was unlucky he didn&#8217;t score, but had a fantastic game.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Chelsea&#8217;s chances of qualifying for next season&#8217;s Champions League were boosted on Tuesday night when London rivals <b>Tottenham<\/b> suffered a 3-1 defeat at lowly <b>Blackpool<\/b> in the English Premier League.<\/p>\n<p>Tottenham, who beat AC Milan in the Champions League last week, would have gone third above Manchester City with victory but instead remained two points clear of fifth-placed Chelsea &#8212; who now have a game in hand.<\/p>\n<p>Blackpool captain Charlie Adam, who almost joined Tottenham on the last day of the January transfer window, opened the scoring with an 18th-minute penalty and striker D.J. Campbell continued his scoring run with the second goal just before halftime.<\/p>\n<p>Substitute Brett Ormerod made it 3-0 with 10 minutes to play, while Russia striker Roman Pavlyuchenko scored a consolation in time added on with a deflected long-range effort as he started in place of San Siro match-winner Peter Crouch.<\/p>\n<p>The victory lifted Blackpool into 12th place, five points above the relegation zone.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea&#8217;s aspirations face a big test next Tuesday at home to Premier League leaders Manchester United, who have a 12-point advantage over Ancelotti&#8217;s defending champions and can extend that at Wigan on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p><!--endclickprintinclude--><!-- google_ad_section_end --><br \/>\n<!-- \/cnn_strybtmcntnt --><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>More here:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/rss.cnn.com\/~r\/rss\/edition_europe\/~3\/89UFD3ApZUE\/index.html\" title=\"Football: Late Lyon leveler denies Real Madrid\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Football: Late Lyon leveler denies Real Madrid<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Bafetimbi Gomis made amends for a glaring first-half miss with an 83rd-minute goal to give Lyon a 1-1 draw with Real Madrid. STORY HIGHLIGHTS Bafetimbi Gomis scores with seven minutes left to give Lyon a 1-1 draw Real Madrid took the lead through former Lyon striker Karim Benzema Nicolas Anelka scores both goals as Chelsea win 2-0 away to Copenhagen Chelsea&#8217;s hopes of qualifying next year boosted as Premier League rivals Tottenham lose (CNN) &#8212; Lyon scored a late equalizer against Real Madrid to deny Karim Benzema a victorious return to his old club on Tuesday, while Chelsea moved towards a place in the Champions League quarterfinals with victory at Copenhagen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-277479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Football: Late Lyon leveler denies Real Madrid - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Football: Late Lyon leveler denies Real Madrid - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Bafetimbi Gomis made amends for a glaring first-half miss with an 83rd-minute goal to give Lyon a 1-1 draw with Real Madrid. STORY HIGHLIGHTS Bafetimbi Gomis scores with seven minutes left to give Lyon a 1-1 draw Real Madrid took the lead through former Lyon striker Karim Benzema Nicolas Anelka scores both goals as Chelsea win 2-0 away to Copenhagen Chelsea&#039;s hopes of qualifying next year boosted as Premier League rivals Tottenham lose (CNN) -- Lyon scored a late equalizer against Real Madrid to deny Karim Benzema a victorious return to his old club on Tuesday, while Chelsea moved towards a place in the Champions League quarterfinals with victory at Copenhagen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ghanamma\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Football: Late Lyon leveler denies Real Madrid\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-22T23:04:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/\"},\"wordCount\":974,\"commentCount\":0,\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/\",\"name\":\"Football: Late Lyon leveler denies Real Madrid - Ghanamma.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-22T23:04:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/\",\"name\":\"Ghanamma.com\",\"description\":\"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Football: Late Lyon leveler denies Real Madrid - Ghanamma.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Football: Late Lyon leveler denies Real Madrid - Ghanamma.com","twitter_description":"Bafetimbi Gomis made amends for a glaring first-half miss with an 83rd-minute goal to give Lyon a 1-1 draw with Real Madrid. STORY HIGHLIGHTS Bafetimbi Gomis scores with seven minutes left to give Lyon a 1-1 draw Real Madrid took the lead through former Lyon striker Karim Benzema Nicolas Anelka scores both goals as Chelsea win 2-0 away to Copenhagen Chelsea's hopes of qualifying next year boosted as Premier League rivals Tottenham lose (CNN) -- Lyon scored a late equalizer against Real Madrid to deny Karim Benzema a victorious return to his old club on Tuesday, while Chelsea moved towards a place in the Champions League quarterfinals with victory at Copenhagen","twitter_creator":"@ghanamma","twitter_site":"@ghanamma","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Football: Late Lyon leveler denies Real Madrid","datePublished":"2011-02-22T23:04:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/"},"wordCount":974,"commentCount":0,"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/","name":"Football: Late Lyon leveler denies Real Madrid - Ghanamma.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-02-22T23:04:03+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/02\/22\/football-late-lyon-leveler-denies-real-madrid\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/","name":"Ghanamma.com","description":"News In Ghana - Latest Ghana News Headlines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277479\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}