Olympique Lyonnais was supposed to be just a small hick-up for a Barcelona team that was expected to go all the way this year. Weather that will happen remains to be seen but they were given a dose of reality Tuesday as Lyon showed throughout that they are here to play.
While a victory would have done wonders for them at the Stade Gerland a draw given what was expected going into this contest has to be somewhat of a moral victory.
Fact is on paper Barcelona should mop the floor with Lyon but soccer is not played on paper. Case in point Tuesday's first leg of the Champions League Round of 16, Lyon looked very determined and un concerned about how the media viewed this match.
Early on Lyon got the home crowd into it with Juninho dominating the midfield and Fabio Grosso solid as ever at the back. The breakthrough came very early as Juninho fired home a free kick in the seventh minute that caught goalkeeper Valdes napping as his shot sailed over his head and into the net.
Their confidence grew from there as striker Karim Benzema nearly made it 2-0 a minute later just missing his shot from inside the area. Minutes later Lyon was reminded of how good this Barca team is when Samuel Eto hit the post hit the post off a thunderous drive on 14 minutes.
13 minutes later it was Benzema's turn to be unlucky as he curled a brilliant shot onto the left post. The first half belonged to Lyon as they appeared to catch Barca on several counter attacks and Barcelona appeared to still be reeling from their defeat to lowly Espanyol last weekend.
Barcelona was desperate to do anything to change momentum even resorting to diving as star striker Lionel Messi did quite disgustingly when he fell holding as head after a Fabio Grosso challenge.
Whatever Guardiola told his team at half time seemed to work as Barca came out a completely different team to start the second half and had it not been for outstanding goalkeeping from Hugo Lloris, they may well have equalized alot sooner. Lloris twice thwarted Barcelona early on in the second half.
Barcelona appeared to take control of the game in the second half and were rewarded for their efforts when Lionel Messi's corner was flicked on by Marquez which found the head of Thierry Henry who finshed it off to tie the game 1-1 aftr 67 minutes.
Lyon did still create a few opportunities late in the contest but were unable to come up with anything as it ended 1-1.
The draw now means that Lyon must go to the Nou Camp in two weeks time and must get some sort of result that includes them scoring a goal, due to Barca's away goal Lyon needs at least score in Barcelona something they have never been able to do against the Spanish giants.
After the match Lyon coach Claude Puel shared his frustrations on the teams missed chances but still remained upbeat, “I regret that we didn’t profit from our period of dominance in the first half,” Lyon coach Claude Puel told reporters. “In those moments of strength, you have to be able to score a second or third goal. After all our (early) efforts we stood back…But it’s a long way from being over.”
On the other side Barca boss Pep Guardiola showed little panic despite his side being clearly surprised by Lyon's power, “After the break, we took control of the game and it was much better. We now need to draw the conclusions from this match in order to be ready for the return leg.”
The stage is now set for Lyon to pull off the upset of the tournament and they will need to make the most of their opportunities in Spain in two weeks time. In the past Lyon has floundered in these oppotunities in the Champions League and it will be on them to show this edition is different than the past.
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