Aouar thrives as Lyon send Man City packing in Champions League upset

It was a fairly pedestrian start to Manchester City's meeting with Lyon to round off the quarter-final ties. Whereas Barcelona's eventual 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich saw two goals scored in the opening seven minutes on Friday night, it wasn't until the midway point of the first half that the deadlock was broken. 

And while Manchester City were overwhelming favourites to land the win in Lisbon, it was Lyon who drew first blood through Maxwel Cornet. The winger has scored four goals in the last three Champions League meetings with City, but it could have been so different were it not for Houssem Aouar's impressive reading of the game shortly after the 20-minute mark. Raheem Sterling had pulled back for Joao Cancelo and as the full-back looked to pull the trigger, Aouar stole the ball off Cancelo and won a free-kick off Ilkay Gundogan to ease pressure on the Lyon goal. 

The young midfielder has been heavily linked with a move to City this summer, with reports suggesting the Premier League powerhouse are readying a £65m move for Aouar. That fee is likely to rise further now. The 22-year-old is one of the most sought after players in Europe on the back of another commendable, albeit shortened, Ligue 1 season, but it is in the Champions League where the Lyon star has really shone. 

Coming into the quarter-final tie, Aouar's WhoScored rating of 7.65 ranked highly. As Lyon beat City almost two years ago at the Etihad Stadium, a match that shot Tanguy Ndombele to prominence, Aouar would look to use the knockout clash against the same opponents to boost his budding reputation. And having exhibited his fine reading of the game early on, the Frenchman would grow into the game at the Estadio Jose Alvalade. 

Indeed, at the break Aouar's WhoScored rating of 6.88 was the fifth best of all Lyon players, with two of their three centre-backs and Cornet among those who performed bettered in the opening 45 minutes. One tackle and one interception highlighted his work rate, while two successful dribbles reinforced a strength of 'dribbling'. What was key, though, was that Aouar was fouled four times in the first half as City pinpointed the France midfielder as Lyon's key man, yet that didn't deter the OL ace from doing what he does best. 

He started the second half slowly as City pressured the Lyon, but it was Aouar who provided the assist for Moussa Dembele's contentious goal 10 minutes from time, that coming from his only key pass of the game. All in all, Aouar did enough to yield a WhoScored rating of 7.91 in Lyon's eventual 3-1 win over Manchester City, with Dembele adding his second and OL's third shortly after Raheem Sterling's glaring miss from six yards, with that return better than any other Lyon player. 

Aouar made two tackles in the end, and completed more dribbles (4) than any other player in a mature showing from the young Lyon midfielder. With another standout performance, his stock will rise further and while City will hope they can yet land Aouar this summer, they'll faced increased competition for his services after tonight's showing. Just as Ndombele used the 2018 Champions League to boost his reputation, Aouar, too, used a Champions League meeting with City to increase his standing in the world of football.