A miraculous week for French clubs in the Champions League

A miracle. That’s exactly what Lyon needed to go through to the knockout stages of the Champions League after disappointing in the five first games and scoring only on two occasions. To qualify, Les Gones not only needed Ajax to lose, but also had seven goals to catch up on the Dutch side. As if that wasn’t hard enough, Lyon’s goalscoring form had been worryingly poor, especially away, and when Dinamo Zagreb managed to hold them at 1-1 at half time, Marseille looked to be the only French club going to the last 16. We thought we had seen it all when Didier Deschamps’ men came back from 2-0 to win at Dortmund yesterday. Clearly not. Seven goals in 30 minutes, including four from Bafétimbi Gomis, allowed Lyon to unbelievably secure second place in Group D.

The French side literally had to rewrite history in the process. Gomis, who had not scored in 10 games, became the first French player to score four goals in one match in the Champions League, joining the ranks of Messi, Shevchenko, Van Basten, Van Nistelrooy, Prso and Simone Inzaghi - and it only took him 25 minutes. Without taking any credit away from him, having Gomis in that list shows just how surreal the scenes were in Croatia tonight. Of course you may say it was “only” Dinamo Zagreb, who were playing with ten men, however I’m sure that’s not what the Lyon players were thinking with such a huge mountain to climb.

Inspiring, magic,… all the clichés are allowed after such an exciting night of Champions League football. Who were you most surprised to see crash out?