Heartbreak for Houllier as Milan snatch victory

AC Milan 3 Lyon 1 (Agg: 3-1)

AC Milan will face Barcelona or Benfica in the Champions League semi-final after last season’s losing finalists beat Lyon 3-1 tonight after a goalless draw between the sides in France last week.

The Italians overcame some stern pressure from Lyon to grab the lead through Filippo Inzaghi on 25 minutes, but Mahamadou Diarra headed home six minutes later after Milan’s defence struggled to deal with Juninho’s free-kick from the left.

That gave Gerard Houllier’s men the lead on away goals, but after missing a series of chances to extend their lead Inzaghi punished them by netting a second with two minutes to go after Andriy Shevchenko’s shot hit both posts and came out.

The Rossoneri made sure in injury time when Francois Clerc’s backpass was cut out by Shevchenko, who rounded Gregory Coupet to tuck in a third.