Lyon thrash Dinamo Zagreb to reach Champions League knockout phase
Lyon's players celebrate after hammering Dinamo Zagreb to reach the second round of the Champions League. Photograph: Hrvoje Polan/AFP/Getty Images
A rampant Lyon staged an astonishing second-half fightback to thrashDinamo Zagreb and reach the knockout stage of the competition.
Bafétimbi Gomis scored the quickest ever Champions League hat-trick to help his side pull off a remarkable win. His three goals in seven minutes, including the first just before half-time, meant the France striker beat the previous record set by Blackburn Rovers' Mike Newell in December 1995.
The victory, which put Lyon through to the knockout stages for a ninth straight season, was also the French club's biggest win in the Champions League and Dinamo's heaviest defeat in all European competition. After the game their coach Krunoslav Jurcic was sacked.
Remi Garde's side also needed Ajax to lose at home to Real Madrid and hope for a seven-goal swing in goal difference which they managed comfortably as Ajax went down 3-0.
Gomis scored a fourth as he became only the seventh player to reach that tally in one Champions League match.
Lyon fell behind in the 40th minute to 10-man Dinamo, who had their midfielder Jerko Leko sent off for a second bookable offence midway through the first half, before Gomis scored four goals to lead their charge into the last 16.
Maxime Gonalons, Lisandro López and Jimmy Briand scored Lyon's other goals to complete the rout, leaving the Croatian champions rooted to the bottom of the group with no points from six games.
Dinamo Zagreb 1-7 Lyon | Champions League Group D match report | Football | guardian.co.uk
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Thought this deserved it's own thread. The defending in the second half is simply laughable and the goals look pretty 'staged'. I normally don't buy into these kind of things, but this seems oh-so-dodgy.
Thoughts?