Juventus 2 Lyon 1 (Agg 2-2) Man Utd flop Memphis Depay scores Panenka as Juve crash out despite Cristiano Ronaldo double
CRISTIANO RONALDO was helpless as Memphis Depay scored an outrageous Panenka penalty to send Juventus crashing out of the Champions League.
The Portuguese superstar scored a double as he single-handedly tried to drag the lacklustre Italian champions into the quarter-finals.
But it proved too great a task after Depay’s early spot-kick, and away goal, had left Maurizio Sarri’s side needing three.
Former Manchester United flop Depay, 26, was a man lacking confidence during his two years at Old Trafford.
But he showed bags of it as he cheekily sat Wojciech Szczesny down to chip his penalty down the middle.
Lyon were gifted the perfect start when German referee Felix Zwayer awarded a penalty for Federico Bernardeschi sliding tackle on Houssem Aouar after ten minutes.
The Italians were livid, with Bernardeschi appearing to get a large chuck of the ball, but VAR did not intervene.
Captain Depay stepped up with a short run up… and dinked it.
That made sure he maintained his 100 per cent goalscoring record in Europe’s elite club competition this season.
After netting in all five of his previous appearances in the competition, Depay joined Ruud van Nistelrooy as the second Dutchman to score in six consecutive Champions League games.
With Lyon going into the second leg with a 1-0 advantage from way back in February, the goal made it 2-0 on aggregate.
Juventus therefore needed to score three in order to go through.
The Old Lady were given an almighty lifeline when the referee levelled things up just before half-time.
Depay tried – and succeeded – to keep his arm tucked in as Miralem Pjanic struck a free-kick… but the referee pointed to the spot and Ronaldo, or course, made no mistake.
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Then on the hour mark Ronaldo banged in his second to level the tie, belting in a stunning strike with his left peg which was simply too quick for Anthony Lopes.
But Juventus needed a third to go through due to the away-goals rule.
And they could not find it as Ronaldo wasted the best chance of all, failing to keep his header down as Juventus’ – and Gianluigi Buffon’s – long wait for European glory goes on.