Barcelona maybe favourites to win the Champions League, but the weekend's defeat by Espanyol has raised many questions as they prepare to visit Olympique Lyonnais.
Feb 23, 2009 1:11:45 PM
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Kick Off: 20:45 CET - Tuesday, February 24, 2009 - Stade Gerland, Lyon
Barcelona have a chance to put their first league defeat since the opening day of the season behind them when they travel to Stade Gerland on Tuesday evening to take on Olympique Lyonnais in the Champions League.
The Blaugrana were surprisingly beaten in the local derby against Espanyol on Saturday, and have had to suffer the sound-bytes and celebrations coming from Madrid and the criticism closer to home.
Pep Guardiola and his players will welcome the opportunity to return to winning ways with an impressive display in France that would prove that the Blanc i Blau reverse was just a blip.
On the flip-side, anything other than a god display will see those hoping to for a Barcelona slip-up shout even louder that the bubble may have burst at Camp Nou as the pressure increases.
If this game had been played a week ago, then all the statistics and records would have meant that very few would have predicted anything other than Lyon having to sit back and try and do what they could to stop their visitors.
Barça have netted over 100 goals in all competitions this term and had only been beaten on the first day of the league season by Numancia before last weekend, and against Shakhtar Donetsk in the last Champions League group game, by which time they had already qualified.