Barcelona and, in particular, Luis Suarez, came into their Champions League match at Lyon needing a strong performance. The Spanish giants had drawn three of their last four matches the team and Suarez needed to find their feet in France.
Poor Luis Suarez Performance Sees Barcelona Draw in Lyon
First Half
Barcelona were looking to control this match from the first minute. They set up in their classic 4-3-3 formation, with Sergi Roberto as part of the midfield three. The La Masia product has spent most of the last three season playing at right-back. However, he was brought into the midfield to give Barcelona a measure of control that they often lack when Arturo Vidal plays.
Contrary to expectation, Barcelona exhibited no control over the first half. It was stale and underwhelming, with little attacking intent. Whether it be a poor pass, ill-advised shot or a poorly timed run, the La Liga leaders struggled to create chances.
It made the game very end-to-end in the first half. There was no sign of the midfield or that control that Sergi Roberto was supposed to bring. If not for Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Barcelona would have taken the first blow as he saved the only real chance on a shot from Martin Terrier. Beyond that, both teams went into the half-time break thinking that with a little more quality they’d be in the driving seat.
Second Half
As the second half began, Barcelona continued to try and assert their dominance over the game but, just like the first half, Lyon were having none of that. Credit has to be given to the French side as they really went for it at home, pressing the visitors and forcing ter Stegen to play it long on multiple occasions.
Barcelona, meanwhile, reverted to the age-old plan of give the ball to Lionel Messi and letting him do the rest. There was nothing that Barca created that didn’t have Messi’s hand in it, and all the moves that ended poorly had Luis Suarez’s hand in them. He was so bad that he legitimately couldn’t have helped Lyon more if he was wearing their shirt.
Suarez looked like couldn’t keep up with Messi or Ousmane Dembele on counter-attacks. He couldn’t take the ball past any of the Lyon defenders, nor could he pass it by them. It was one of the worst performances Luis Suarez has had at Barcelona, maybe even one his worse ever.
Even after Ernesto Valverde brought Philippe Coutinho on for Dembele, the game continued as if nothing had changed. Barcelona continued to miss chances; it felt like Suarez’s poor game had bled into the rest of the team. It’s really hard to be a side with the quality of Barcelona and still not score with 25 shots.
Takeaways
At the end of the day, Lyon will absolutely be the happier side. It is always an achievement to keep Barcelona scoreless, despite their awful Champions League away form. Lyon should be praised, though, because they did not just park the bus, they tried to play and tried to score but weren’t able to get past Barcelona’s defence.
If Barcelona want to win the Champions League this season they are going to have to figure out their Luis Suarez problem. He has not scored away in the Champions League for over 25 hours. In that time, Barcelona have failed to win any knockout games on the road, with today’s draw and last season’s draw at Chelsea the only ‘positive’ results.
For both of those things to happen Suarez has to find his form but it’s not like he will have an easy place to do that. Now is the time of year where the best players need to be at their best. Suarez and co know this but what they ultimately do to try and change it will be crucial for their Champions League run.
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