Bayern Munich beat Lyon 1 – 0 in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final despite having Franck Ribery sent off.

Bayern enjoyed the better of a game, which both sides ended with just 10 men, but they were only rewarded with a slender advantage to take to the Stade Gerland next Tuesday.

Ribery was shown a straight red card for the hosts in the 37th minute but Jeremy Toulalan collected two yellows early in the second half to even things up.

And it was then left to Arjen Robben to steal the headlines as he followed up his quarter-final goal against Manchester United with a deflected shot to put Bayern marginally ahead in a finely poised tie.

After 10 minutes of getting to know each other, Bayern launched the first wave of attacks with Daniel van Buyten getting on the end of an Ivica Olic cross in the 12th minute, but sending his volley high and wide.

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Lyon went through to the knockout phase of the Champions League thanks to a late goal by Argentine striker Lisandro Lopez at the Stade Gerland in Lyon, France against Liverpool to draw the match 1 – 1.

Liverpool missed a series of chances in the first half and were less convincing in the second until a screamer from Ryan Babel silenced the Lyon crowd with less than five minutes to play.

Lisandro, however, struck in the final two minutes to give Lyon ten points with two Group E games still to play.

Fiorentina’s 5-2 hammering of Debrecen leaves them on nine points while Liverpool, five points adrift of the Italians, would have to hope for a miracle to have any chance of finishing in the top two.

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Liverpool and Arsenal lost out on vital points last night by losing and drawing their respective games against Lyon and AZ Alkmaar in the Champions League.

Lyon piled the pressure on Liverpool with a 2-1 Champions League Group E win at Anfield to condemn the Reds to their fourth straight loss.

The Reds went into the match needing a morale-boosting victory to lift spirits ahead of Sunday’s colossal showdown with champions Manchester United.

But Maxime Gomis’ second-half header pulled Lyon level, before Cesar Delgado stunned Anfield into silence with an injury-time winner.

Liverpool now sit in third place in the group, six points behind Lyon and three adrift of Fiorentina.

Arsenal paid the price for a sloppy second half as AZ Alkmaar equalised in stoppage time to earn a 1-1 draw in Champions League Group H.

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