[/caption]Real Madrid lost the first leg of their UEFA Champions League tie against Lyon on Tuesday night, but Cristiano Ronaldo refuses to be pessimistic about Los Blancos chances of qualifying for the last sixteen.

Blame it on Manuel Pellegrini’s formation and squad choice, or on the players’ mentality compared to Lyon’s energetic form if you want…

Well, the reality is that Real Madrid were defeated at the Stade Gerland again! With a 1-0 deficit, which was created through Jean Makoun’s incredible 25-yard shot, the Spanish giants will have quite a lot of work to do in the return leg in March.

But Cristiano Ronaldo, who was arguably Real Madrid’s best player on the night, believes that everything is not over.
In a post match interview, he confidently declared, starting by one of his well know quotes:

“In football, anything is possible,” Ronaldo said before pursuing:

“We’ve lost here [at the Stade Gerland] but we possess a game at home and we [Real Madrid] can repeat what they [Lyon] did here.”

Cristiano Ronaldo has six goals in the UEFA Champions League and he has been tipped by football followers to end with the UEFA Champions League Top Scorer award in his hands this season.

But if Real Madrid don’t manage to eliminate Lyon, Cristiano Ronaldo’s wish of grabbing this gong for the second time in his career might vanish, and so will his desire of conquering Europe with the Spanish giants.

Cristiano Ronaldo was poised to score against French side Lyon on Tuesday and he came close to doing so but failed. It will be a disaster if the Portuguese football star, who is worth £ 80 million pounds, crashes out of the UEFA Champions League at this stage.

But upon this prospect, Cristiano Ronaldo explained:

From Reuters Images

“I’m calm. You have to suffer in this competition. I’m convinced that we’ll give a good answer in the return leg and that we will be victorious.”

In fact, Real Madrid have an awesome record at home in all competitions this season. Their only defeat in Madrid came against AC Milan in the Champions League.

Singling out this factor, Cristiano Ronaldo continued:

“The Santiago Bernabeu will help us. We will need to give it everything, from the first minute to the last one.”

He concluded on a confident note:

“The tie is not lost.”

Can Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid cast away the demons that have prevented them from qualifying into the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League for the past five years?

Will Lyon give in to their important 1-0 lead? Football’s public is yet to know…

Angela Asante, Footballfantalk.com