Carew magic saves Lyon

Real Madrid and Lyon played out an entertaining 1-1 stalemate at the Bernabeu.

A quintessential game of two halves saw Madrid deservedly edge the first period through a Guti goal, but a sumptuous flick from John Carew with twenty minutes remaining ensured the spoils were shared.

Coming on the back of a shambolic defeat at the weekend to Barcelona, Madrid will have been well drilled that anything but a much improved display would not be tolerated in the capital.

Gerard Houllier's Lyon side appeared to playing within themselves but nevertheless still managed to forge the first effort of note when Carew forced a decent stop from Iker Casillas despite the tight angle.

Thereafter and it was Madrid, with the recalled Guti at the hub of much of their good work, that always looked the likelier to find a breakthrough.

Roberto Carlos, criticised of late, drilled a trademark hammer across goal but Robinho and David Beckham both failed to make contact, before Gregory Coupet needed to be smart off his line to smother at the feet of Robinho.

Coupet then showed his agility again in palming away Guti's snapshot from Zinedine Zidane's lay-off but was then thankful for Florent Malouda's positioning when he cleared Guti's header from a corner off the line.

Beckham found his way into the referee's book following a trip on Malouda as Madrid's new-found resilience was matched by a punch and bite in the tackle.

Lyon's approach play was neat but other than a wasteful touch in front of goal by Carew, chances were very much at a premium and it came as little surprise when Guti broke the deadlock five minutes before the interval.

Beckham's free-kick from the left caused consternation in Lyon's box and as they failed to clear, Guti was on hand to stab home from close range.

Guti, captain for the night, then threatened to ruin much of his good work by starting a mass melee on the stroke of half-time after showing childlike petulance to a nothing tackle made on him by Tiago.

After the break and Lyon stepped up their efforts, to play in a manner more befitting of a side ranked as dark horses to win the tournament.

Just minutes into the second half and Carew gave Madrid a warning, as he should have netted but headed wide when attempting to divert Sidney Govou's deflected shot at the far post.

Robinho, not at his best all evening, volleyed Zidane's crossfield pass over before in the final half-an-hour, Lyon took almost complete control with an assured and impressive display.

Carew struck wide after an astute turn on the edge of the box and then the increasingly influential Mahamadou Diarra tested Casillas with another decent strike from distance.

On 71 minutes came Carew's moment. Substitute Sylvain Wiltord went down the left and pulled a ball back to Carew's feet - with the big Norwegian facing away from goal. With a hugely inventive back heel Carew then proceeded to beat Casillas with the most precocious of finishes.

Lyon could have won it when Tiago's explosive strike was brilliantly saved and Juninho's free-kick was bent wide, but whilst the French champions lost their 100 percent record, they did ensure progression to the competition's next stage as group winners.

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Real Madrid	Team Statistics	Lyon
1	Goals	1
1	1st Half Goals	0
3	Shots on Target	6
3	Shots off Target	8
5	Blocked Shots	3
7	Corners	2
19	Fouls	20
2	Offsides	3
2	Yellow Cards	5
0	Red Cards	0
80.2	Passing Success	78.7
19	Tackles	23
78.9	Tackles Success	73.9
52.5	Possession	47.5
51.3	Territorial Advantage	48.7