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#4 Lyon vs Barcelona, Parc Olympique Lyonnais, 19th February 2019,
So, moving on, Barcelona's next assignment after Valladolid will be an away game at Lyon. It will be the first leg of the Round of 16 stages of the Champions League. It will also be the first of a four-game road trip for the Blaugrana.
What do we expect here? With enough rotations and rest for the game, we expect Barcelona to go in with a full-strength lineup here.
It is one which many of us will fancy, Dembele-Messi-Suarez, the front three, Rakitic-Alena-Busquets the middle three, and then there are the usual five at the back.
The only change which could occur is the inclusion of Coutinho in the midfield. It will strongly depend on his performance against Valladolid while playing in the midfield.
If he impresses in the game against Valladolid, Valverde could give him the nod ahead of the young Alena, or else, the proposed team remains.
Tactics:
Now, this fixture is a very tricky one. We have seen Lyon defeat PSG in the league recently. They have a good group of players with them.
Jason Denayer and Marcelo guard their defenses, Ferland Mendy and Dubois provide the width. Ndombele and Aouar are expected at the midfield and in the hole up front, Nabil Fekir will play.
On either side forward, we can expect Bertrand Traore and Memphis Depay, while Moussa Dembele will be ready to pounce on goalscoring chances.
Barcelona's key here is not to be outdone by the two deep-lying Lyon midfielders, Aouar and Ndombele. Both players have a scary amount of pace and can outrun most of the midfield they face.
A grave mistake that Valverde must not commit here is to start a trio of Busquets, Rakitic and Vidal. The Blaugrana midfield will be too slow to handle the up and running Lyon midfielders. Ndombele is a good physical player who dribbles a lot and then also picks the right pass.
A big thing that Barcelona must do against him is to press him in numbers. Letting him run free is dangerous and pressing him alone could lead to little or no effect.
The next thing is to neutralize Nabil Fekir. He is the heart of the team, particularly in big games.
This is Sergio Busquets' assignment for 90 minutes. Watch and keep him inside the pockets for 90 minutes. Depay and Traore can provide threats of their own from the wide areas but the supply should be limited by neutralizing Fekir, Aouar, and Ndombele.
If you had witnessed Lyon's game against Manchester City earlier this season then you should have an idea of how Lyon plays exactly.
They don't mind not having the possession, they will let you have it, but they will keep the press on, keep their men spread over the pitch rather than sitting in the defensive third.
They are also not a team you can frustrate by passing around for fun as Guardiola's City found out. Their defense is strong even without the presence of any big names in the back four.
The left side is also a big key here. Ferland Mendy and Memphis Depay both play on the left, thus Semedo and Pique should be extra cautious in the game.
The right side, however, is there to exploit. Bertrand Traore and Dubois usually guard that side, defensively, Alba has a lesser amount of caution as compared to the left. Offensively, we know Barcelona would prefer this side due to added pace from Dembele and Alba there.
The defensive four of Lyon is something we can point out as an Achilles heel despite their spirited show. A good amount of pace and creativity can outdo them.
Barcelona have pace from Dembele, they have more than enough creativity thanks to a certain Argentine. Push Lyon to the back foot rather than letting them blend and get into the game is what Barcelona should do.
They should try to play somewhat as they did against Tottenham. Take control from the word go and keep it.
Will Messi be man-marked?
Messi can handle a man mark without any support. This seems a stupid idea if employed though. The man to mark him has to be without a doubt Ndombele or maybe Aouar. Either one of them marking him takes away a big attacking threat.
You cannot switch off while marking Messi just because he doesn't have the ball. There are Suarez and Alba on the pitch who know how to get him the ball or worse just go through the defense.
Messi moves all over the pitch, he doesn't run much, he keeps walking, it is frustrating for a marker.
The position and orientation of the whole team get distorted just because one player is running around cluelessly around a man who is walking.
There might be people who say that Croatia man-marked Messi amazingly in the World Cup game but that is an entirely different team. With all due respect, that Argentina team was the worst of recent times.
Key Player: Nelson Semedo
The role is Semedo seems the toughest on the pitch, at least on paper. He has to oblige with the attacking role that Barcelona wants and link up well with Messi.
You cannot put a foot wrong when playing passes with that man. Defensively, he has enough threat with Ferland Mendy and Memphis Depay both attacking through the flank that he defends. Good luck, Nelsinho.
