PUEL LAMENTS S/FINAL DEFEAT

By NBF NEWS

Claude Puel admitted that Bayern Munich was the better side following Lyon's elimination from the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday.

The semifinal was delicately poised following a 1-0 victory for Bayern in last week's first leg at the Allianz Arena, but Lyon never threatened to recover.

The German side ran out emphatic 3-0 winners on the night in France as an Ivica Olic hat-trick sealed a 4-0 aggregate success.

While Bayern can now look forward to facing either Inter Milan or Barcelona in the final, Lyon manager Puel was left to admit that his team had been outplayed.

'We have to realise that they were stronger,' he told TF1.

'It's a shame we didn't equalise, we had opportunities in front of goal which would have put us back in the match.'

Lyon's slim chances effectively disappeared when Cris was controversially sent off on the hour mark.

With the score on the night still 1-0, the Brazilian defender was booked for a challenge and then shown a second yellow card for ironically applauding the referee.