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Madrid, Milan out of Champions League

AP

Thursday, March 11, 2010



LONDON (AP) -- Big-spending Real Madrid were knocked out of the Champions League by Lyon yesterday and Manchester United spoiled David Beckham's return to Old Trafford with a 4-0 victory over AC Milan.

Madrid were held 1-1 at home by Lyon, which meant they went out 2-1 on aggregate and failed to reach the last eight for the sixth season in a row.

In Manchester, two more goals by Wayne Rooney -- who also scored twice in the first leg in Milan and now has 30 league and cup goals this season -- helped United triumph 7-2 overall and join Arsenal and Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals.

Nine-time European champions Madrid spent $250 million ($340 million) on new players to try and win the trophy for the first time since 2002 and now will have to wait at least one more season.

"We didn't score enough goals in the first half to be able to play calmly in the second half," said Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini. "We didn't try to get the second goal collectively, we were making too many individual plays."

It all looked hopeful for Madrid when they wiped out Lyon's 1-0 first-leg lead within six minutes of the kick-off.

A long pass by Jose Maria "Guti" Gutierrez' released Cristiano Ronaldo down the left and the winger, who left United for Real Madrid at the end of last season, fired an angled shot through the legs of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris for his seventh Champions League goal of the season.

It should have been 2-0 in the 26th when Gonzalo Higuain got clear and rounded the goalkeeper but fired against the post when faced by an empty net.

Jean II Makoun, who scored Lyon's spectacular goal in the first leg, squandered a rare chance for the visitor when a cross found him unmarked in front of goal as he miskicked the ball from 10 metres out.

Sidney Govou missed a similar chance early in the second half but Miralem Pjanic made it 1-1 in the 75th when he got clear down the left and fired past goalkeeper Iker Casillas.

Madrid then needed two more goals to avoid going out, but surprisingly took off one of their big signings, Kaka, and replaced him with veteran striker Raul Gonzalez.

At Old Trafford, Rooney scored United's first two and Park Ji-sung and Darren Fletcher added two more to send United into the last eight.

It was 3-0 by the time Beckham went on as a substitute to a big ovation from the United fans and the former England captain, on loan to Milan from the Los Angeles Galaxy, could do little to stop his team going out of the competition.

The results meant Madrid and Milan, winners of 16 titles between them in European football's biggest competition, are out early yet again.

In Tuesday's games, Arsenal outplayed FC Porto 5-0 to reach the quarter-final 6-2 overall and four-time European champions Bayern Munich made it on away goals despite losing 3-2 at Fiorentina. The two teams finished 4-4 on aggregate.

Next week's games are Chelsea-Inter Milan (1-2), CSKA Moscow-Sevilla (1-1), Barcelona-Stuttgart (1-1) and Bordeaux-Olympiakos (1-0).


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