Olympique Lyonnais-FC Barcelona: Champions League Preview

Barcelona are undefeated in La Liga and their only defeat in the Spanish league dates back to August on Matchday two against Numancia. Lyonone the other hand have lost three games in the league this season.

Depending on Champions League form, Barca have lost once and so have Lyon. However, Barca put out on a second-string side whereas Lyon lost in the Stade-de Gerland with the first team. On Matchday six, top spot was what Lyon was fighting for. So, who is it gonna be in the quarter-finals: high flying Barcelona or underdogs Lyon?

Barcelona

Form in the league: Barcelona have shown just why everyone is labeling them as favourites in the Champions League by causing havoc in the league. 60 points from 23 matches is not a matter of joke. The three-pronged attack of Henry, Messi and Eto’o is the mot dangerous at the moment in Europe this season.

Form in the Champions League: The story is no different in the Champions League. Barca turned Sporting upside down and then caused havoc against Basel. Against Shaktar, they were lucky to escape with three points from Ukraine.

They did lose to Shaktar, but of course they were playing with a second-string side. They finished top in Group C with four wins, one draw and one loss.

Lyon

Form in the league: Compared to Barcelona, Lyon’s point tally seems low. They may be top of Ligue 1, but they have a mere 49 points from 24 games. However Karim Benzema and Fred are two forwards who any defence would have to be wary of.

Form in the Champions League: Lyonhave played some amazing matches, including the 5-3 win over Steaua. They finished with three wins, two draws and a loss. Their solitary loss came to Bayern. They were three-nil down by the end of the first half and the commentator’s voice still buzzes in my head.

“Bayern are slaughtering Lyon”, he had said when reviewing the first half results on Matchday six. However Bayern were lucky not to have lost as they had to withstand 45 minutes of onslaught from Lyon. Lyon came back and struck twice. Had it not been for Michael Rensing, Bayern may have lost.

Previous Results

Barcelona 3:0 Lyon

In that match a Francois Clerc own goal started Lyon’s undoing. Messi struck in the second half while Henry stuck in injury-time.

Lyon 2:2 Barcelona

For Lyon Juninho struck twice with the second being a penalty while for Barcelona, Iniesta and Messi were the scorers on the day, with Messi’s being a penalty.

Team News

Barcelona

Andres Iniesta is likely going to miss this fixture. Besides that, coach Josep Guardiola doesn’t have much to worry about.

Lyon

Lyon coach Claude Puel has a lot of injury concerns prior to the match in the Stade-de Gerland. Francois Clerc, Sidney Govou, Fabio Santos, Cesar Delgado and Anthony Reveillere are all out injured and may fail to make the tie against Barca.

Quotes after the Draw

I don’t know about the readers but I definitely had a good laugh after reading what Puel and Messi had to say. Puel tried to find the positives and thus said

“Barcelona have been the best team of the last six months. At least there will be no problem motivating our players."

Messi on the other hand played down talks of a high-profile win and said

"In the first knockout round you don't get easy games, People may think that we've been drawn against one of the lesser names but they will be a very difficult side to beat; it won't be easy at all. We played two matches against them recently and we saw that they had class. We will be worried about every member of their team as they have players with a lot of quality."

Strengths and Weaknesses

In Barcelona’s case, I just can’t find weaknesses. Sometimes, however their defence looks a bit shaky and tends to concede early goals as against Espanyol and Real Betis. As far as strengths are concerned, it is the front three which should be looked at. Despite the highly talented midfield, it is the front line which deserves mot of the attention.

Lyon tend to lose their concentration. Against Bayern, they lost concentration at times and as a result collapsed in the first half. They gave a much stronger second-half showing, but were unable to obtain any points from the game.

Lyon’s defence looks faulty at times. Lyon have to mend those defensive gaps if they are to stop Barca from exploiting them at the back.

Players to Watch

Barcelona: Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernandes

This man downplayed Barca’s chances. However he is the guy who can make the difference on his own and Lyon will have to keep track on him. Xavi is the engine which runs Barca’ midfield and the only ways to cause Barca problems are to stop Xavi and Messi from getting a sniff of the ball.

Lyon: Juninho Pernambucano and Karim Benzema

Juninho, the captain always like to put a free kick into the back of the net whenever he has the chance. Benzema on the other hand can score goals from nearly impossible situations. Barcelona have to really control these two from causing havoc in their penalty-area.

Prediction

Fabio Grosso and his fellow defenders will really have to be at 110% to stop Barca from scoring. Lyon may get a goal or two but I think that Barca will have an advantage going into the second leg at the Nou Camp.

Final Score

Lyon 1:3 Barcelona