📝 Barcelona held to first leg 0-0 draw by dogged Lyon | OneFootball

Barcelona couldn’t take a step towards the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday as they were held to a 0-0 draw by a disciplined Lyon performance.

Lyon winger Martin Terrier was the surprise inclusion when the teams were announced on Tuesday but almost justified his inclusion immediately, a superb saves from Marc-André ter Stegen early on.

Though Lionel Messi and Ousmane Dembélé impressed, Barcelona struggled to produce any clear cut chances in response.

Moussa Dembélé had both the last chance of the first half and the first chance of the second half. But heavy touches allowed Gerard Piqué and ter Stegen to get the better of him on those occasions.

Then, with 20 minutes to go, came the game’s biggest chance. Jordi Alba picked Suárez out brilliantly but the Uruguayan, slipping as he shot, fired wide.

Sergio Busquets had an effort from 18 yards tipped as the clock ran down, then Lionel Messi drilled a free-kick into the wall with Lyon standing firm.

👨‍🎤Hero and villain

Hero: Ferland Mendy

Getting injured in the warm-up is not what you want when you’re about to face Lionel Messi. Mendy, though, carried out his job brilliantly. Solid defensively and a threat, a superb performance from the left-back.

Villain: Luis Suárez

He just doesn’t look like the player he was. Slower, more ponderous, not as clinical. He’s now gone 25 hours without an away goal in the Champions League.

📖 What we learned from this game

Barcelona are going to struggle to win the competition with Sergi Roberto and Ivan Rakitić joining Sergio Busquets in midfield. It’s too clunky, too rigid, and not what we’ve come to expect from them.

Lyon, meanwhile, can go to Camp Nou with hope. They played well without Nabil Fekir on Tuesday, he’ll be back for the second leg. One away goal at Camp Nou and you never know …

🤔 What this means

Things are finely balanced ahead of the second leg.

Barcelona are the strong favourites, needing a win at home to qualify, but Lyon are capable of scoring away from home and that would complicate things.

❓ What’s next?

Back to league duty for both sides.

Lyon play in Ligue 1’s headline fixture of the weekend when they visit AS Monaco on Sunday evening.

Barcelona take to the field a little sooner, they play Sevilla away from home on Saturday afternoon.