Champions League

Carli Lloyd’s Champions League ambitions may soon be at an end after Alex Morgan’s Lyon defeated Manchester City 3-1 in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal. City will now need to travel to the Parc Olympique Lyonnais on April 29 to overturn the large deficit.

City and Lloyd got off to the worst possible start in the opening minutes. An attempted Lyon cross was blocked in the box by Lloyd’s elbow, and the referee immediately pointed to the spot. 

On Friday morning, the last Champions League draw of the season took place in Nyon, Switzerland to determine the semi-final matchups and gave us some very entertaining fixtures: Real Madrid vs Atletico Madrid and Monaco vs Juventus. As football fans, we are all one step closer to finding out which teams will play for Europe’s most lucrative trophy on June 3rd in Cardiff. Will the Champions League Final be played between:

Real Madrid - Monaco

Real Madrid - Juventus

Atletico Madrid - Monaco

Atletico Madrid - Juventus

In the words of Bayern Munich's Technical Director Michael Reschke, "You have to make him a monument!" — Reschke was referring to the person who originally signed Real Madrid sensation Marco Asensio. Jose Angel Sanchez, a Real Madrid board member, signed a 19-year-old Asensio back in July of 2015 for 3.5 million euros from Mallorca. 

Article 49 of the official Champions League regulations stipulates how repeated yellow card cautions are dealt with and when lingering yellow cards are wiped. A suspension for yellow card accumulation is a threat from the group stage until the quarterfinals, and receiving a yellow-card suspension in the second leg of the quarters will also carry over into the semifinal first leg.

It’s come to light that the best opportunity Barcelona had to snatch a goal to begin their famous comeback against Juventus wasn’t squandered by Lionel Messi but by Luis Suarez at kick off.

Juventus defender Dani Alves was off the pitch, shaking hands with his old coaching staff (one coach playfully holding his hand long enough to incur a slap from Alves) while Luis Enrique beckoned the Brazilian to take a seat next to him.

Just as Borussia Dortmund was picking up steam, Monaco capped it immediately. Quick on the counterattack, Monaco threaded together a string of passes once again opening up Dortmund's defense. With fresh legs, right as Valère Germain stepped onto the pitch, he made an impact.  

(Goal at 1:17)

Monaco makes history as the first team to score three goals in four consecutive matches in the Champions League. 

Perhaps a small section of supporters within Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu are on to something. For the opening 75 minutes of Real’s second leg match against Bayern Munich, Cristiano Ronaldo, by his own standards and those of Real Madrid and all that jazz, cut a forlorn figure like only he can.   

For all the talk regarding what it would take for Barcelona to, once again, turn around a seemingly insurmountable lead, the difference between this return leg and the one against PSG was made immediately evident upon kickoff. Juventus played higher up the pitch, they made Barcelona entirely uncomfortable, they were sophisticatedly physical and they were capable of stringing passes together.

Leave it to the young stars to light up the match. Ousmane Dembele worked some magic one-on-one in the penalty box and picked out his teammate Reus with ease. 

Reus gets one back for Dortmund as Dembele picks up his 17th(!) assist in all comps this season. #ASMBVB https://t.co/UIwMq4XqzR

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) April 19, 2017

Leaving gaps within your defense will never be taken kindly in the Champions League. Radamel Falcao is no stranger to picking out these weaknesses.

Falcao gets in on the scoring with his 5th #UCL goal this season! #ASMBVB https://t.co/LpOEbL8ljN