New Delhi: Olympique Lyonnais shocked Barcelona as Juninho curled home a brilliant early free kick but les Gones could not hold out for a famous win as Thierry Henry dived to head Barcelona level.
Thierry Henry doesn't often score with his head, however, such an effort levelled Barcelona's tie with Olympique Lyonnais at the Stade Gerland this evening. Juninho's stunning free kick had given les Gones an early lead but Claude Puel's side faded in the second half.
In the opening few minutes of the tie, Barcelona strutted as if the weekend’s loss against Espanyol had simply not happened. The ball was stroked nicely about without ever really penetrating Lyon’s midfield, which would quickly up the tempo, harrying their visitors and forcing them into errors.
Les Gones first real opportunity of the match arrived in the form of a free kick near the corner flag. In customary fashion, Juninho trotted over to the ball, perhaps improved his angle a little so he was ten yards from the touchline, and placed the ball seemingly into a crossing position – or at least that’s what Victor Valdes, the Barcelona goalkeeper though. Juninho would send the ball high into the air, spinning in towards the back post and dipping vicariously so the ball dropped into the top corner of the net, sending the Stade Gerland into raptures.
Barcelona suddenly looked rattled again and Karim Benzema was afforded much too much space in the left channel only moments later. Uncharacteristically for the young striker, he fluffed his lines on the big stage, his shot trickling wide of goal when he perhaps should have made the score 2-0.
Ederson was the other main protagonist in the first half and he combined with Benzema and Juninho nicely moments later. His step-overs couldn’t take him away from the defence but the ball was quickly shuffled back to Makoun, who never really caught his shot as it bounced wide of Valdes goal.
Lyon were rampant and could have added another goal in a crazy opening quarter as Kader Keita bounced an effort wide after the visiting custodian had taken an unconvincing flap at a corner.
But Barcelona had already begun to steady themselves. A slight error from Cris in the home defence – one of only a few he would make – allowed Eto’o to gallop onto a delicious through ball from Xavi, however, his effort was scuffed past Lloris and onto the post. Fortunately for OL, the ball zipped just to the onrushing Henry’s right.
Benzema has been tipped to replace Eto’o in Catalonia this summer and gave a glimpse of just when he turned and span 25-yards from goal, unleashing an outrageously early shot that had Valdes beaten but not the post.
This kind of attack was becoming less typical of Lyon’s play, as les Gones started to toil under the intense heat that they had been placing Barcelona under. A Sergio Busquets header just before half-time, which flashed over the bar, gave the home fans a taste of what was to come in the second period.
Pep Guardiola clearly had some stern words for his troops at half-time, keeping them in for an inordinate amount of time to get his ideas across to them.
There did not appear to be any great tactical changes in Barca’s game during the second half, rather, they would continue to plug away and attempt to grind Lyon down.
Chances were far fewer in a second half played with less intensity. Those opportunities that did arise tended to come from set-plays and, surprisingly, it would be Barca that would profit from this facet of the game.
Dani Alves was a thorn in les Gones’ side all evening with his driving runs down the right, however, these did not produce much of note. Instead, a free kick from 25-yards that took a big deflection off Fabio Grosso would prove his starring moment. Home goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, tracking the original flight of the ball, actually ran past the new trajectory but stuck out a hand to produce something of a minor miracle to keep the ball out.
Ten minutes later, the young French international was at it again. Lyon were found wanting at a corner as Gerard Pique stole in to glance a header at goal from six yards, however, Lloris reactions were again exemplary.
Just as it was beginning to look like Barca might not find a way past the former Nice shot-stopper, Thierry Henry popped up with a rare headed goal to level the game. A centre was zipped in to the near post, where a touch on by Marques found France’s record goal scorer unmarked at the corner of the six yard box to execute a relatively simple diving header into the net.
From this position, with Lyon apparently tiring, it seemed likely that Barcelona would go on and win the match. However, the Blaugrana struggled to prise open the home defence again, despite the best efforts of Lionel Messi, who would only show in flashes his undoubted potential.
Instead, Lyon finished the stronger of the two side but, although Benzema and Kim Kallstrom delivered centres into a dangerous area of the Barcelona box, there would be no takers and the sides travel to Spain in a fortnight level.
This situation will certainly suit Barca, who never clicked into top gear, although Lyon would argue that they were not allowed to. It would seem that les Gones’ chance has gone, but if they can muster the kind of energy they showed for the first hour of the game up again, they do have an outside chance of causing a real sensation. Never discount any side with Benzema in their ranks.
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