Beaten Lyon left licking their wounds

Olympique Lyonnais forward César Delgado cut a forlorn figure as he sought to explain his side's elimination from the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Real Madrid CF.

Just one year before Wednesday night's 3-0 defeat in the Spanish capital, the Gones had celebrated fervently on the Santiago Bernabéu pitch having booked their passage to the quarter-finals. There was to be no repeat, however, with Madrid enjoying a comfortable 4-1 aggregate triumph that earned them and not Claude Puel's team a place in Friday's draw.

"This is a particularly painful exit for us from the competition," Delgado said. "I'm really hurting after our defeat. Tonight's game was especially hard, but we know we lost fair and square and we have to accept that. Now let's just get on with it."

A 1-1 round of 16 first-leg draw at the Stade de Gerland had raised Lyon hopes that another memorable result in Madrid could be achieved. Despite that belief, it became clear after Marcelo's fine first-half opener that the visitors would need something special to emulate last season's run to the semi-finals.

"We stopped doing the things that we did so well in the first leg and that made it extra complicated for us," Delgado continued, before pointing out how Karim Benzema and Ángel Di María were able to increase the deficit. "We made some mistakes after the break and, as a result, the margin of victory was quite wide. We can't dwell on this result now, we must look forward. Our goal is to fight hard in our domestic championship in order to qualify for next season's Champions League."

Midfielder Yoann Gourcuff was equally despondent yet acknowledged that "the best team won". Unable to find his rhythm as the hosts dominated, the former FC Girondins de Bordeaux player nonetheless found the manner of defeat hard to take. "It was difficult to imagine that the game could finish with this scoreline, especially after the result we got at home," he said.

"Knowing we needed to score here, we had to take some risks. That meant too many spaces opening up within our team, which in turn made their job easier. We now have to make sure we bounce back from the physical and emotional effort we put in."