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Barcelona fail to secure away goal for home leg of UCL last 16

By Chiranjib Ghosh

Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi reacts during the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg football match between Lyon (OL) and FC Barcelona on February 19, 2019, at the Groupama Stadium in Decines-Charpieu, central-eastern France. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) (Photo credit should read FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images)
Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi reacts during the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg football match between Lyon (OL) and FC Barcelona on February 19, 2019, at the Groupama Stadium in Decines-Charpieu, central-eastern France. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) (Photo credit should read FRANCK FIFE/AFP/Getty Images) /
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Barcelona’s away tie to Lyon ended in a goalless draw

Barcelona went with a very strong lineup against Lyon, with Sergi Roberto moving into midfield and Nélson Semedo slotting back into the right-back spot. But the side failed to secure an away goal going into the second leg at the Camp Nou, as the stars failed to shine.

Marc-André ter Stegen was called upon very early on in the game. His first save of the match off Houssem Aouar was pretty easy. But the following save was absolutely world-class, as Martin Terrier’s shot from outside the box was deflected onto the crossbar by the Germany international.

Lionel Messi and Ousmane Dembélé had several opportunities, but failed to convert. Even in the second-half, the duo had a lot of chances but missed all of them. Luis Suárez also had a bad day in front of goal, as he missed from point-blank range.

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Lyon usually hit Barça on the counter, with Martin Terrier, Memphis Depay and Bertrand Traoré caused a lot of problems for the full-backs. They came very close on some occasions, but couldn’t get past Ter Stegen. On the other hand, Barça couldn’t translate their possession into goals.

Messi improved from his performance in the 1-0 victory over Real Valladolid in the La Liga, but was still very poor for his standards. He missed easy chances, and his link-up with Jordi Alba amounted to little. Among his 9 shots, just one managed to find the target.

Ousmane Dembélé was impressive, but was taken off by Ernesto Valverde in the second-half for Philippe Coutinho. Suárez will be very disappointed with his performance, as he missed many easy opportunities. But Barça were really solid at the back, especially Gerard Piqué.

Initially, Valverde’s high-press tactic was successful as Lyon were dispossessed in the final third quite a few times early on in the game. But after the second-half, it failed miserably and Barça failed to find the back of the net for the first time in the Champions League this season.

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For Lyon, Tanguy Ndombélé was quite good, along with Memphis Depay. Going into the home leg, Barça are not going to be having an advantage and will require the superstars to step it up in front of goal in order to progress to the Champions League quarter-final.

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