CL: 'Getting past Juventus, most satisfying moment of my career' - Lyon Boss Garcia

Olympique Lyonnais players celebrate after scaling through Juventus to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Photo: OL

Olympique Lyonnais coach Rudi Garcia said knocking out Juventus at the Allianz Stadium was ‘one of the most satisfying moments’ in his career so far.

The visitors arrived with a 1-0 advantage from Groupama Stadium in February and when Memphis Depay scored a penalty after 12 minutes, Juventus needed three goals to turn the game around.

And the task became too big for the Old Lady, who were trying their hardest to get past a resilient Lyon defence, who came out on top as the first French side to knock out Juventus from the latter stages of a European Cup.

“It’s one of the most satisfying moments of my career and getting past Juventus really is an exploit,” Garcia told Sky Sport Italia.

“We saw this evening how important the first leg result was, winning 1-0 at home without conceding. We were qualified before stepping on to the field, then converted the penalty to go 1-0 up, but we knew where we were.

“The penalty we conceded just before half-time hurt us, Juve hadn’t been that dangerous until then and it gave them confidence. Cristiano Ronaldo then scored that real Champions League level goal, but we stayed calm and that was what I appreciated the most about my team. We didn’t panic, we kept plugging away and everyone contributed to keeping the ball.

Olympique Lyonnais will slug it out with Manchester City in the quarter-finals of the Champions League ⬇

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“Our first half, both tonight and in the first leg, was really of a high level. We struggled more under pressure in the second halves, but Juve were pouring forward and had nothing to lose, so that was natural.

“It was tough for Juve to do better without Paulo Dybala, but we proved that we have a strong defence, as we also held out PSG for 120 minutes in the Cup last week.

“I know this stadium, I came here with Roma, so I know how tough it is to win here. Let’s just say this is the happiest defeat of my career!”