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Källström jubilant as Lyon eject Real Madrid

Swedish midfielder Kim Källström is set to play a part in the quarter-finals of the Champions League after Lyon held off the challenge of Spanish giants Real Madrid on Wednesday.

Källström jubilant as Lyon eject Real Madrid

After winning 1-0 in their home leg Lyon came away from the Santiago Bernabéu with a 1-1 draw, sufficient to claim a place in the last eight and condemn big-spending Madrid to a sixth consecutive exit at this stage of the competition.

Real Madrid’s expensive line up of stars started the game at full throttle launching wave after wave of attacks on the Lyon rearguard, marshalled by the superb Hugo Lloris in goal.

Expectant Madrid fans did not have to wait long for the opening goal and it came in the familiar guise of record-signing Christiano Ronaldo after he surged down the left flank and shot left-footed into net for his seventh goal in six Champions League matches.

The Spanish team should have had the game out of sight by the break but were not able to build on their lead despite a wealth of good chances.

Lyon made two changes at the break, bringing on Swedish player Kim Källström and Maxime Gonalons, which seemed to revitalize the French champions who started to threaten Ilker Casillas’s goal.

As the game neared 75 minutes Bosnian Miralem Pjanic provided the decisive finishing touch to a move involving Källström which all but killed off the challenge of Real Madrid when he made no mistake with a firm shot from 12 yards.

Lyon missed a golden opportunity to take home a victory on the night when Lisandro Lopez dragged wide with the goal at his mercy but the French team will care little as they line up in the quarter-finals for the first time since 2006.

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RACISM

VIDEO: Spain’s La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

Spain's La Liga on Monday said it was reviewing a video of a child making racist insults towards Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior during the 2-2 draw with Valencia at the weekend.

VIDEO: Spain's La Liga reviews video of boy racially abusing Vinicius

“We’re in the process of studying and analysing the facts from a legal standpoint to see what we can and should do,” La Liga sources said.

In a video published by a journalist for ESPN Brasil, and picked up by Spanish media, a boy sitting in a woman’s lap can be heard calling Vinicius a “monkey”.

https://twitter.com/GravesenFumado/status/1764242481984491822

The Brazilian scored twice for Madrid as his team recovered from two goals down at Mestalla on Saturday.

Vinicius raised his fist in a “Black Power” salute after the first of his two goals at a ground where he was racially abused last season. Valencia subsequently banned three people from the stadium for life.

The 23-year-old has become a symbol of the fight against discrimination in Spanish football after suffering racist abuse on many occasions, and he was jeered repeatedly by home supporters on Saturday.

Jude Bellingham was sent off after the final whistle against Valencia for protesting after the referee blew the final whistle right before the England midfielder headed home what he thought was the winning goal.

READ ALSO: Football star Vinicius highlights racist behaviour from Spanish fans

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