Match Preview: Barça v Lyon

Barça’s quest to win a sixth Champions League title continues on Wednesday at 9.00pm CET with the second leg of their round of 16 clash with Olympique Lyonnais. A huge crowd is expected at the Camp Nou as the Catalans look to build on a 0-0 draw in France three weeks ago.

Results since the first leg

Liga       Sevilla 2-4 FC Barcelona
Copa     Real Madrid 0-3 FC Barcelona
Liga       Real Madrid 0-1 FC Barcelona
Liga       FC Barcelona 3-1 Rayo Vallecano

Ligue    Monaco 2-0 Lyon
Coupe   Lyon 3-1 Caen
Ligue    Lyon 5-1 Toulouse
Ligue    Strasbourg 2-2 Lyon

Lyon are now third in Ligue 1, 7 points behind second place Lille and 21 behind leaders PSG. They will play at home to Rennes in the semi-finals of the Coupe de France.

TV AND KICK-OFF TIME GUIDE

FC Barcelona: Did you know?

This is the first time that a French club has visited the Camp Nou since the night in 2017 of the incredible 6-1 comeback against PSG after Barça had lost the first leg 4-0.

Barça have reached at least the quarter finals in the last eleven editions of the UCL. That’s already a record but the run could be extended to 12 with the right result today.

Barça have equalled Bayern Munich’s record of going 29 games without losing at home in the competition (from 1998 to 2002). Avoid defeat today and they will set a new all-time record.

Olympique Lyonnais: Did you know?

Lyon have not reached the quarter finals of the Champions league since 2009/10, when they beat Real Madrid 2-1 on aggregate in the round of 16.

Since beating Man City in their opening game, Lyon have drawn all their last six UCL games, and one more would equal AEK Athens’ run of seven draws from 2002 to 2003.

Samuel Umtiti played 131 Ligue 1 games for Lyon between 2012 and 2016, while Clément Lenglet (Nancy), Ousmane Dembélé (Rennes) and Malcom (Bordeaux) have also played in France. Malcom scored four goals in four games against Lyon.

The only members of the respective squads who have ever played alongside each other at the same club are Jasper Cillessen and Kenny Tete, who were together at Ajax from 2013-16.

THE LOWDOWN ON OLYMPIQUE LYONNAIS

The referee

Szymon Marciniak of Poland is taking charge of his fourth FC Barcelona fixture, and his second this season after also whistling the 1-1 draw with Inter Milan in the group stage.

Marciniak was the man in the middle for two games in the 2016/17 season, both of which resulted in defeats, the 4-0 loss to PSG that was so famously turned around at Camp Nou and the subsequent 3-0 defeat at Juventus in the quarter finals.

The other round of 16 ties (aggregate score)

Manchester United 3-3 Paris Saint-Germain (Man Utd qualify on away goals)
Tottenham Hotspur 4-0 Borussia Dortmund
Porto 4-3 Roma
Ajax 5-3 Real Madrid
Manchester City 10-2 Schalke 04
Juventus 3-2 Atlético Madrid
Bayern Munich v Liverpool (first leg at Anfield ended 0-0)

The draw for the quarter and semi finals will be held in Nyon this Friday 15 March at 12.00pm CET.

Team news 

Ernesto Valverde called up 20 players, two of which have to be discarded from the squad before the match.

They are: Ter Stegen, N. Semedo, Piqué, I. Rakitic, Sergio, Coutinho, Arthur, Suárez, Messi, O. Dembélé, Cillessen, Malcom, Lenglet, Murillo, Jordi Alba, Prince, S. Roberto, Vidal, Umtiti and Aleñá.

Rafinha and Vermaelen are still out injured, while Todibo is left out by technical decision. Aleñá will continue to wear the No.26 during the rest of the Champions League, although in the League and Cup he will revert to the No.21.

Nélson Semedo is the only Barça player who is one yellow card away from a suspension.

Managers’ viewpoints 

Lyon coach Bruno Genesio is approaching the game full of confidence. “We can do this, and we must have confidence in ourselves. We have to be inspired by the match we played at Manchester City, albeit the situation will be different with an extraordinary player in opposition. A lot of things depend on Messi, so we're going to develop a game plan to reduce his influence. I don’t think the match will end 0- 0. Everything is possible in football."

Ernesto Valverde remained positive ahead of the tie. "We are prepared to play a good game, to always look to score and do what we know: face up to the opponent and try to win. We have to win. We’ve asked the Camp Nou to be with us, although we already know that the supporters will be, but what we have to do is play in a way that ensures that the fans get even more involved.”