How Lyon held Barcelona to a draw in the Champions League

The Champions League is finally back and all is once again well with the world. European football has been gone for far too long to count, and that is exactly why Tuesday’s result might sting a bit more than we would like it to.

Olympique Lyonnais hosted Barcelona at their Groupama Stadium in a clash of two extremely attack-minded teams as goals galore were expected. But as is the case so often, what is on paper rarely reflects what actually transpires on the pitch with both the French and the Catalan teams failing to rattle each other’s nets.

The visitors will however be the more disappointed ones, or at least they should be,. They had control over most of the proceedings in France while the home team will undoubtedly settle for this goalless draw and take their chances at the Camp Nou in a couple of weeks time.

This tactical analysis will use statistics to dissect the game that promised much but delivered very little in terms of the scoreline, and determine who were the actual victors of a rather uninspiring draw.

Lineups

Barcelona (4-3-3)

Starting XI: ter Stegen  Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Alba  Sergi, Busquets, Rakitić  Messi, Suarez, Dembele

Bench: Iñaki Peña, Murillo, Umtiti, Vidal, Aleñá, Coutinho, Malcom

Coach: Ernesto Valverde

Lyon (4-2-3-1)

Starting XI: Lopes  Dubois, Marcelo, Denayer, Mendy  NDombele, Aouar  Traore, Memphis, Terrier, M. Dembele

Bench: Gorgelin, Tete, Marçal, Solet, Tousart, Cheikh, Cornet

Coach: Bruno Genesio

Barcelona’s setup

Life has not been kind on the Catalan giant as the troubles of their damned February continue. Ernesto Valverde’s team is finally (mostly) injury-free but be it exhaustion, a rough patch of fixtures or something else, they are experiencing a slight dip in form.

Playing away from home on a big Champi