All four goals on the third of four first-leg nights were scored by Frenchmen with Nicolas Anelka grabbing two for Chelsea goals in Denmark. Karim Benzema and Bafetimbi Gomis were on target as Lyon and Real drew at the Stade Gerland.
Chelsea were good value for their win at the Parken Stadium with Anelka scoring the first after 17 minutes and the second after 54, although 50 million-pound ($80.95 million) signing Fernando Torres failed to find the net in his third appearance for his new team.
The victory eased the pressure on manager Carlo Ancelotti after a poor run for the English champions who have slipped to fifth in the Premier League and were knocked out of the FA Cup after a penalty shootout by Everton on Saturday.
"It was a good result and good performance," Ancelotti told reporters.
"The players worked hard and played good football but it is only the first half. In this competition we are focused because we want to do well. Fernando Torres did very well because the key to the game was the work of the strikers."
Real, who had failed to beat Lyon in their previous six Champions League meetings over the last five years, appeared to be on their way to ending that run at the Stade Gerland.
Benzema scored against his former club in the 65th minute soon after coming on as a substitute for the ineffective Emmanuel Adebayor to give the nine-time European champions a deserved lead. Manager Jose Mourinho, bidding to become the first man to lift the European Cup with three different clubs, had seen his side go close to scoring twice before they went ahead, with Cristiano Ronaldo smacking a free kick against a post and Sergio Ramos hitting the bar with a header.
But although they dominated the match they allowed Lyon to equalise seven minutes from time when Gomis volleyed past Iker Casillas from close range after Real failed to clear a free kick.
Despite conceding a late equaliser, Real look well placed to reach the quarterfinals after going out of the competition in the first knockout round in the last six seasons. "We got a useful and important result, finally putting an end to our bad run at this stadium," Real director general Jorge Valdano told Spanish television.
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