Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoreline on the sixth minutes at the second league with a fine strike – his seventh UCL goal of the season – to level the aggregate at 1-1.

But a Miralem Pjanic equalizer in the 75th-minute was enough for Lyon to qualify for the next round on aggregate.

The early exit is especially disappointing as this year’s UCL final will be played at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, Real Madrid’s home ground.

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Ronaldo almost turned from hero to villain in the match, scoring the opening goal for United but missed a crucial penalty during the penalty shoot-out. Fortunately John Terry (unfortunate for him) missed a penalty later which could have gave Chelsea the cup and thus given United the lifeline again… and Van der Sar eventually took advantage of with a fine save against Nicholas Anelka for United’s triumph.

It was a tense and tight game; either side could have won it, and either side would be deserving winner if they won it. United dominated the first half, but Chelsea dominated the later part of the game. Lady luck was obviously on United side though, as Chelsea twice hit the woodwork… and there is nothing to explain how Terry could have missed the penalty besides luck (or no luck).

With this trophy it seems like Ronaldo is on course to claim both the European and world title as the best footballer of the year. Well, that is unless some messiah appears during the Euro competition which outshines the 42 goals Ronaldo has scored this season… but who knows, Ronaldo could yet again be the shiniest star in Euro 2008.

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United qualified to the quarter finals with a 2-1 aggregate, while securing their 10th straight home victory in the competition, equalling Juventus’ record set 11 years ago.

Ronaldo scored the goal on 41st minute in front of a chaotic goalmouth.

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The incident allegedly occurred in the warm-up before the last-16 first leg tie but Ronaldo showed no ill effects during United’s 1-1 draw in France.

Television pictures suggested Ronaldo was also targeted when running with the ball during the first leg of the last-16 clash at Stade Gerland, which ended in a 1-1 draw.

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The Portuguese winger has scored six goals to help United to second in the domestic table and to win their opening three games in the Champions League.

And the 22-year-old said: “I believe we will win the Premier League and the Champions League this season.

Read the rest of Ronaldo backs Man Utd for double

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Ronaldo spent seven years wearing Sporting green before he left for Old Trafford in 2003 with a £12.2million price tag and became a megastar.

But the brilliant Portugal winger had warned there would be no old pals act at the Jose Alvalade Stadium, the ground on which he first came to Sir Alex Ferguson’s attention in a friendly meeting between the teams four years ago.

And Ronaldo matched his words with deeds as he arrived with perfect timing to finish off Wes Brown’s low cross and provide the Red Devils with only their third Champions League away win in 15 encounters.

Having refused to state yesterday whether he would celebrate any goal, Ronaldo restricted himself to a low, double-fisted salute before an almost apologetic bow to the home supporters, who offered the winger a standing ovation when he was replaced by Carlos Tevez four minutes from time.

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Rosella Sensi, the female president of AS Roma, has tipped that their captain Fransesco Totti is better than Ronaldo. Her comment was echoed by Roma’s Chilean midfielder David Pizarro, who said: “Ronaldo is an excellent player but he has a long way to go to achieve what Totti has in the game.”

Even Totti himself snubbed Ronaldo when asked about United’s danger-men. Totti, who has 16 league goals this season, said: “United have so many good players but the one I like the most is Rooney.”

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United’s performance sucks. Credits to Milan, their play were truly master class; but United could have done better, or at least gave Milan a tougher night. In fact, despite conceded 3 goals, goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar was probably United’s best player of the game with a couple of great saves.

Van der Sar couldn’t do much with the first 2 goals; the first one was poor defending, the second one was very much a gift from United defenders.

The anticipated battle of Kaka vs. Cristiano Ronaldo didn’t happen as well; it was all one sided performance in favour of Kaka. Ronaldo’s most memorable moment of the game was the yellow card he got late in the game.

If AC Milan does win the Champions League in the end, I bet Kaka will be crowned the next World Footballer of the Year.

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