Roma inflicted a rare home defeat on Lyon to reach the
quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League after a 2-0 success at
Stade Gerland.
With the tie finely poised after a 0-0 draw in the Italian capital
a fortnight ago, Francesco Totti headed home for his 21st goal of
the season midway through the first half.
A piece of individual brilliance from Alessandro Mancini brought
the second goal just before half-time as Lyon lost at home in
Europe for the first time since October 2002.
Juninho Pernambucano, as per usual, carried Lyon's attacking threat
and his early shot was spilled by Roma keeper Doni, with Philippe
Mexes in sharply to clear from a lurking striker.
Daniele De Rossi was left aghast on six minutes to have a
close-range header disallowed after he had met Totti's knock-back,
but the Roma captain had been harshly penalised for a nudge on Eric
Abidal.
Sidney Govou was on the end of the majority of Juninho's crosses
and was off target with two flick-ons before Lyon fell behind on 22
minutes.
Cristian Chivu's raking pass sent Max Tonetto scampering down the
left and his clipped cross was ideal for Totti, who was positioned
perfectly to head past Gregory Coupet.
Lyon's best source of chances was via crosses from the flanks, with
Govou failing to get a clean connection on Abidal's deep
centre.
A Juninho corner then caused panic in the Roma box and, after a
couple of ricochets, Sebastian Squillaci prodded a shot straight at
Doni from close range.
Just before half-time a mesmerising piece of skill from Mancini put
Roma 2-0 up. He collected a searching ball from the right,
bamboozled Anthony Reveillere with a string of step-overs and then
lashed a shot into the top corner.
Roma could have enjoyed a dream start to the second half when
Rodrigo Taddei sprung the offside trap, but he lacked composure in
skewing his finish off target.
Doni, who had endured a shaky first period, then came to the fore
as he was out quickly to save substitute Sylvain Wiltord's shot
with his legs.
Moments later, he produced an even better save, sticking out his
left hand to turn away Juninho's curling effort as the French
champions sought a way back into the game.
An unsavoury element then crept into the contest as Simone Perrotta
dived in an attempt to earn a penalty, and at the opposite end,
Fred was similarly loose limbed after collecting Juninho's
pass.
A Kim Kallstrom piledriver pressed Doni into another acrobatic
one-handed stop before the Swedish schemer swept in a teasing cross
which just eluded the outstretched boot of Florent Malouda.
Substitute Karim Benzema flashed a shot across the face of goal
before Fred was lucky not to be sent off after leaving Chivu with a
bloodied nose after disgracefully smashing his arm into the
Romanian's face.
The contest petered out to a tetchy conclusion as the French
champions failed to translate their domestic dominance to the
knockout phase of Europe's elite club competition.
