Barcelona 3 - 0 Lyon: Review and Highlights

By: Isaiah | September 20th, 2007

Wow! I didn’t see this coming at all. I privately forecasted a 2-1 victory that I thought was perhaps being a little optimistic, but it turned out my pessimism didn’t take into account the fact that Lyon wasn’t going to show up. My man of the match is Toure Yaya, without a doubt. He shut down Juninho and showed off some excellent footskills. Sure, Leo created the first two goals, but only as a result of Toure’s ability to stifle the Lyon attack before it had a chance to cut through the backline.

There were scary moments, but Valdes never had to make a dramatic save, unlike Remi Vercoutre who looked more like Gregory Coupet than a second-string man as he parried what seemed to be a thousand shots on goal from Barca. I think that technically, Valdes didn’t actually have to make a single save as Lyon couldn’t muster a shot on goal. Things are heated at Inara’s place over the supposed “tactical mistakes” Perrin made in his lineup, but that Barcelona’s defense actually played pretty well for most of the game has to be taken into account as well.

Abidal had basically free-reign on the left and even though Zambrotta was pretty well tied down on the right with Kallstrom and who I think was Benzema, Messi played very well and kept Lyon on its heels. Not that there isn’t some merit to the Lyon fans screaming about defensive tactics, but Barcelona did play very well most of the game. I can’t really break down who the good and bad Lyon players were as I don’t know them and I don’t know how they usually play, but it seemed that Lyon was outclassed from start to finish. Inara says it could have been 7-0 and she’s probably right, especially if Messi had been more on target (a crazy thought).

Other notables: Henry’s first goal for Barcelona and Bojan Krkic’s competitive debut in the #27 youth jersey. While Henry’s goal was merely a tap in after a Gio dos Santos shot (his European debut for Barca), which happened to come after the world’s worst slide tackle. I mean, really, how badly can you misjudge a slide? Apparently much worse than I thought…Gio strolled by his defender and was automatically in on goal where his shot was deflected right into Henry’s path.

I was very surprised that Ronaldinho was substituted at 1-0 for Iniesta. I thought Andres would go on for Xavi, but it seemed to work out in the end, didn’t it? Iniesta is so good and provides so many assists that it’s absurd to keep him out of the lineup. But for Ronaldinho? Without Eto’o, I suppose it makes sense that Henry should be on the field for 90 minutes, but I still seem to react negatively to Ronaldinho’s absence. Bojan for Messi was a good switch, but Bojan didn’t have enough time (4 minutes) to really settle down. Still, he’s in the squad, which is great, and he’ll continue to grow for the next few years before he becomes a regular starter. He’s 17, after all, and only just (his birthday is August 20).

For now, enjoy the goals:

Oh and I realize few people will care about Barca-Lyon after Chelsea’s absurd decision to “part company” with Mourinho. Check out whatever Andy will say about it, but just know that I’m ignoring “the special one” for the time being (with the exception of this little blurb) because he won’t be signing on with anyone until January probably and while that will change things, I’ll wait until he’s officially announced before I weigh in on his potential affects both domestically and/or internationally.