Barcelona won’t have it their own way against intelligent Lyon

Barcelona are always expected to feature in the latter stages of the Champions League, but they’ll be in for a tough test against Lyon.

The wounds from last year’s ignominious Champions League exit will still be fresh in the Barcelona players and fans’ collective minds. Favorites against unfancied opposition, Barca rested on their laurels against Roma and paid the price. Not only did they get knocked out, they had to sit and watch a couple of weeks later as Real Madrid won the Champions League for the third year in a row. Lyon will know this, and Barcelona should be wary.

This year such a collapse cannot happen. When the goals are set for Barcelona at the start of each year, it’s always imperative for this illustrious club to remain competitive on all fronts, but this year is different. The Champions League is the priority. The league and cup competition always seem to be a foregone conclusion for Barcelona, who have won seven of the last 10 Ligas, and six of the last 10 cups. Yet credit and recognition for these achievements seems to have evaded them. They know the weight the Champions League trophy holds, and this year that’s what they’re after again.

Like their biggest rivals, Barcelona are up against a tactically flexible, intelligent, young team. Lyon, known across Europe for their youth academy are a team that over-perform against the bigger sides. Manager Bruno Genesio has already outwitted Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City twice this year. Both fixtures turned out to be high-scoring games, Lyon emerging victorious in one and drawing the other. More recently, Lyon stunned PSG in the league and put an end to their unbeaten run.

Usually setting up in a 4-2-3-1, Lyon look to soak up pressure and spring on the counter against the bigger sides using the pace, skill and flair of Memphis Depay, Nabil Fekir and Bertrand Traore to their advantage.

Genesio — not short of critics — has been excellent in grooming this next generation of talent at Lyon through constant rotation, and while the spine of the team remains the same — Fekir, Depay, Traore, Tanguy Ndombele, Anthony Lopes and Marcelo — there’s constant tweaking of the system.

This has allowed these young players to get their taste of the big stage early on. Nerves will of course play a part when Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez grace the pitch, but the Stade de Lyon will be bumping for this one. Lyon will go into this fixture full of confidence, and nobody should be shocked if they pull off a surprise result.

For Barcelona, the goal is simple: Win. Easier said than done, of course, but that will be the expectation. For players who have seen it all, won it all, it’s hard to see what would faze them here. They will want to score an away goal at the very least. But Barcelona have shown to be fragile in recent weeks. Ernesto Valverde’s insistence on the double midfield pivot of Ivan Rakitic and Sergio Busquets has added more balance to the team, but it’s made them a painfully one-dimensional attack.

Yes, when the focal point is Messi, it’s hard to stop Barca, but Messi’s niggles over recent weeks and Barca’s dependence on individual creativity rather than tactical nous up front has caused hiccups in results. Without Rakitic on the field, Barcelona can look lost sometimes. Philippe Coutinho’s inconsistent form is a concern for Valverde, but Ousmane Dembele’s return to the team will be a welcome sight, and Valverde should have a near fully fit squad.

This fixtures serves up a great battle; Lyon are young and full of ambition, Barcelona are aging and experienced. When a club like Barcelona take to the field, they always expect to win, but when they face Lyon on Tuesday, they may not have it all their own way.