Manchester United Joyful to continue at Champion League after win 4-0 against AC Milan at Old Trafford, while Real Madrid's dreams of a Champions League final at their Bernabeu home were crushed by Lyon .
CR9 Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh Champions League goal of the season gave Madrid the perfect early start as he netted after just six minutes to level up the aggregate scores at 1-1.
However, Real Madrid failed to make the most of a host of first-half chances and they paid the cost as Miralem Pjanic smashed home a 75th-minute equaliser for Lyon to send Manuel Pellegrini's men crashing out.
With this year's final being staged at the Bernabeu, Madrid had high hopes of reaching that final showpiece and the postmortem in the Spanish capital will almost certainly leave Pellegrini under more pressure.
It would have been a different story though if Madrid had not been so profligate in the opening period, with Gonzalo Higuain the chief culprit.
Madrid could not have asked for a better start as they came out flying.
There were just 16 seconds on the clock when Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was called into action first, coming out to deny Ricardo Kaka, and within five minutes Real Madrid were ahead.
Guti's ball over the top from inside his own half put Cristiano Ronaldo in on the left and his low left-footed drive fizzed under Lloris, who might have felt he should have done better.
After that Lyon had to withstand a Madrid onslaught.
Kaka, Ronado and Higuain all went close before the latter missed an incredible opportunity to put Madrid 2-0 up in the 25th minute.
Some home fans must already have been celebrating as Higuain broke in behind the Lyon defence and skipped past Lloris, but with an open goal to aim for the Argentina international's shot from the edge of the box hit the near post.
Higuain then spurned another great opening two minutes later, although this time he was denied by a fine one-handed stop by Lloris.
It was all Madrid in the opening 34 minutes, but Lyon warned the Spanish giants how precarious their situation still was as they fashioned a decent opening of their own.
A deflected cross reached Jean Makoun eight yards out, but the midfielder whose stunning 25-yard strike gave Lyon their first leg lead, mis-kicked and let Madrid off the hook.
Makoun's involvement in the game would not be much longer as he was one of two men replaced at half-time by Lyon coach Claude Puel, Jean-Alain Boumsong also making way with Kim Kallstrom and Maxime Gonalons the players on. And that move turned out to be key as Lyon looked a totally different side after the break.
The first promising sign for the visitors came immediately after the restart when Gonalons won a header at the far post, but his effort cleared the crossbar.
Sidney Govou then blazed another good opening over in the 52nd minute before Lisandro tested Iker Casillas from 25 yards as Lyon started the second period on fire.
Madrid tried to stem the tide with efforts from Kaka and Esteban Granero but neither hit the target and it was Lyon who continued to look the more threatening.
And the French outfit would end up putting paid to Madrid's dreams as Pjanic picked up a lay-off from Lisandro inside the area before thumping a half-volley past Casillas.
There was no way back for Madrid after that and Lyon could have added to the home side's agony as Lisandro and Cesar Delgado both missed chances when clean through at the end.
Manchester United Versus Milan
There was no fairytale Old Trafford return for David Beckham as Wayne Rooney led a Manchester United cruise into the Champions League quarter-finals after a 4-0 win over AC Milan.
Wayne Rooney scored a goal in each half to take his tally for the season to 30 and snuff out any chance Milan had of crowning Beckham's appearance against his former club in glory.
Instead, the joy was all the hosts' as Park Ji-Sung ran onto Paul Scholes' pass to widen the gap before Darren Fletcher headed a fourth near the end.
Always one to embrace a sense of occasion, Beckham was among the last Milan players to leave the dressing room, making his entrance to a standing ovation from supporters who never fell out of love with him the way Ferguson did.
Predictably, though, Beckham had been left on the bench - just as he was on his last European appearance for United, against Real Madrid seven years ago, when he eventually scored twice to prove a point without being able to save the Red Devils from elimination.
That night, Ronaldo - the Brazilian one - scored a hat-trick for Real. Now United have their own hero, and Ferguson has a world-class striker.
It seems to have been a quiet period for Rooney. That was just because he did not play at Wolves on Saturday.
As Ferguson has been known to engage in the odd bout of kidology, the extent of the knee injury that kept England's star striker out of the Molineux encounter will never be known. He was never likely to miss out here, though.
His two goals in the San Siro three weeks ago turned a tie on its head that appeared to be floating out of United's reach. His latest effort merely rammed another nail in Milan's coffin.
Gary Neville was the provider for the first, curling over a right-wing cross his old friend Beckham would have been proud of.
Rooney soared between defenders and neatly glided the ball into the far corner.
It was his seventh header on the trot in a growing tally of goals that threatens the 42 which helped get Cristiano Ronaldo crowned as the world's best player two years ago.
The same accolades could easily be being bestowed on Rooney next winter.
Much will depend on the respective success enjoyed by United and England of course. But their talisman could not be doing any more and his second arrived 54 seconds after the restart.
An outstanding pass, delivered from the left-wing with the outside of his right-foot by Nani, provided the opportunity.
Christian Abbiati gave the game away by dashing out. Rooney merely prodded it past him.
Having already become only the second player - after Walter Pandiani - to score home and away against Milan in a European tie, Rooney was presumably creating some kind of history by doing it twice.
It was the end of Rooney's contribution, although not United's scoring.
After hinting at retirement a few weeks ago, Paul Scholes appears to be enjoying something of a renaissance and it was his brilliantly disguised pass that was clinically finished by Park as the gap between these two European heavyweights widened to a gulf.
As there was little else to do, Leonardo introduced Beckham.
His arrival for Ignazio Abate triggered a standing ovation. Had the midfielder's volley flashed past Edwin van der Sar instead of being beaten away by the veteran Dutchman, it would probably have brought the biggest cheer of the night.
For all the adulation, though, Beckham represents Manchester United's past.
Rooney is the future, which on the pitch - where Fletcher nodded home a fourth near the end - looks rosy, despite the continued vocal and visual protests against the Glazer family, whose willingness to plunge United into such massive debt has vexed so many.
