Thierry Henry scored a crucial away goal to give Barcelona the advantage in their clash with Lyon.
Favourites turn match around after poor first-half
Barcelona came from behind to take an away-goal advantage from the first-leg of their UEFA Champions League clash with Lyon.
The home side had the better of the game in the first-half and the Catalans were fortunate not to head into the break more than one goal down after Juninho had opened the scoring.
However, the tournament favourites turned the match around after half-time and Thierry Henry's goal ensured Barca are in command heading back to the Nou Camp.
Lyon took the lead less than 10 minutes in as Juninho floated in a free-kick from wide on the left.
It started out looking like a cross but eventually curled towards goal and dipped in over Victor Valdes, whose positioning was questionable.
Chances
Lyon had a chance to add to their lead immediately after the restart when Karim Benzema found himself one-on-one with Valdes but scuffed his shot.
Samuel Eto'o should have levelled on 14 minutes when he found himself alone in the box, but his right-foot poke cannoned back off the post and just eluded Henry on the rebound.
Benzema almost made it 2-0 when he struck a beautiful shot from the edge of the box that hit the upright and ricocheted to safety.
The French international then had the chance to play in either Jean Makoun or Abdulkader Keita, who each would have had a glorious chance, but he opted to go it alone and his attempt was easily blocked.
Barcelona had a sustained spell of pressure as half-time approached but did not look like troubling Hugo Lloris in the Lyon goal.
Pep Guardiola's side made better use of possession after the break. They almost equalised when a free-kick from Daniel Alves took a wicked deflection off Fabio Grosso and only Lloris' fine reflexes stopped it from hitting the back of the net.
The scores were levelled on 67 minutes when a Xavi corner was nodded across goal by Rafael Marquez towards Henry at the back post, who steered a low header into the goal from point blank range.
Benzema once again created a chance late in the game but no Lyon player was attacking his cross at the far post.
| Lyon |
Team Statistics |
Barcelona |
| 1 |
Goals |
1 |
| 1 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 2 |
Shots on Target |
3 |
| 7 |
Shots off Target |
7 |
| 3 |
Blocked Shots |
2 |
| 4 |
Corners |
8 |
| 19 |
Fouls |
16 |
| 6 |
Offsides |
2 |
| 3 |
Yellow Cards |
3 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 70.2 |
Passing Success |
84.2 |
| 26 |
Tackles |
19 |
| 73.1 |
Tackles Success |
73.7 |
| 32.8 |
Possession |
67.2 |
| 47.1 |
Territorial Advantage |
52.9 |
|
