Lyon 1-2 Gent: Hosts eliminated with defeat

Valencia's loss to Zenit had left Group H's second-place spot wide open, but the home side could not take advantage and are now unable to make the knock-out phase

Lyon saw their last chance of qualifying for the Champions League last-16 go up in smoke with a 2-1 defeat at home to Gent, which leaves the French side bottom in Group H. 

A defeat for Valencia to Zenit in Tuesday's early fixture had kept Lyon's hopes alive, and Jerome Ferri's strike briefly took them within two points of Los Che after seven minutes.

Gent goalkeeper Matz Sels was fortunate not to be sent off for a handball and proceeded to frustrate Lyon for much of the second period, making a string of brilliant saves to keep the scores level. 

Lyon dominated the majority of the closing stages but were unable to find the goal that would keep alive their hopes of reaching the knockout stage before their matchday six showdown with Valencia. 

And Gent found a crucial winner in the dying seconds of injury time through substitute Kalifa Coulibaly, meaning they leapfrog Nuno Espirito Santo's side into second place ahead of their meeting with runaway group leaders Zenit, while Lyon crash out of Europe altogether. 

With just one point from their opening four matches, Lyon were in desperate need of a strong start and they managed just that - albeit in controversial circumstances. 

A loose ball broke to Rachid Gezzal on the edge of the area and he slipped it through to Ferri, who calmly side-footed past Sels and into the near bottom corner, though replays indicated he was fractionally offside. 

Lyon goalkeeper Anthony Lopes tipped a glancing header by Renato Neto over the crossbar before Sels survived his own moment of controversy, handling Alexandre Lacazette's header outside of the box as the striker was played clean through, though the officials failed to spot it. 

Sels denied Lacazette at full stretch moments later before Brecht Dejaegere blazed over from close range at the other end as the match remained wide open, and Gent deservedly drew level in some style on 32 minutes as Milicevic bent a superb free-kick beyond Lopes from 20 yards. 

Mathieu Valbuena began to exert an influence over the game and slipped in Rafael da Silva to sting the palms of Sels before fizzing an effort of his own just wide shortly before the break. 

Another smart Sels stop denied Valbuena's far-post volley early in the second half and he stood up superbly to parry Ghezzal's drive from the left of the box as Lyon pushed hard for the lead. 

Gent began to withdraw into their half in order to preserve the 1-1 scoreline and Lyon threw on Claudio Beauvue and Maxwell Cornet as they sought that crucial second goal. 

But they were undone as Coulibaly - introduced in stoppage time to run the clock down - bundled Milicevic's corner home to put the Belgians in charge of their own fate and eliminate Hubert Fournier's side from European competition.