Barcelona vs Lyon Odds & Pick: Champions League Round of 16 2nd Leg

• Barcelona are on a great run and are heavily favored to beat Lyon
• Lyon need an away goal
• An incredible Camp Nou night awaits on Wednesday, March 13

With first-leg of this tie ending goalless in Lyon, the odds are heavily stacked in favour of Barcelona, whose UEFA Champions League record at the Camp Nou is phenomenal. Even without an away goal, it’s hard to see the Catalan giants not making it to the last eight.

Barcelona vs Lyon Odds

*Odds taken 03/08/19

Unsurprisingly, the odds reflect Barcelona’s Champions League pedigree and also the Camp Nou factor, both of which make Lyon’s task that much more difficult.

The game in Lyon was dominated by the visitors – who had 63% of possession and 25 shots – but they found Lyon keeper Anthony Lopes in inspired form.

Goalkeeper Anthony Lopes is why it stayed Lyon 0-0 Barcelona ⛔️ https://t.co/tf4lIeanbl

— Tropikal (@mukaraamani) February 19, 2019

The Portuguese international almost single-handily kept the Catalans at bay and found his best form to deny Luis Suarez, Phillipe Coutinho and Lionel Messi, who alone had nine attempts on goal – four more than the entire Lyon team had all game.

Barca Content with Draw

Although they were unable to get a vital away goal, Barca manager Ernesto Valverde was happy with his team’s performance, which came after a worrying run of domestic fixtures in which his team had drawn three from four games and scored only four goals in the process. For a team considered to be free-scoring and who are used to winning regularly, that was a poor run.

[🎬 HIGHLIGHTS]💙❤ Well worth another look!https://t.co/GL54EC57n0
🔵🔴 #ElClásico #ForçaBarça

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 3, 2019

Ominously for Lyon, in the three games that followed the first-leg of this tie they won all of them, with two of those wins coming against arch-rivals Real Madrid.

Massive Task for Lyon

Another ominous sign for Lyon is that the Camp Nou has been kind to Barcelona in this season’s Champions League. Dutch side PSV were comfortably beaten 4-0, the Italians of Inter Milan fared a little better but still lost 2-0, before Tottenham sneaked a 1-1 draw in the final group game with Barcelona having already qualified.

📺 Barcelona 4-0 PSV

🇦🇷 Messi hits his eighth #UCL hat-trick! pic.twitter.com/T8VeReee3p

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) September 22, 2018

All of which paints a bleak picture for the French side but having denied Barcelona a vital away goal, they will, rightly, still consider themselves very much alive in this tie. They will also look to a fine away win at Manchester City in the opening round of the group stage as confirmation that they can successfully mix it with Europe’s elite.

📺 Man. City 1-2 Lyon

⚽️ Fekir shows his class!#UCL pic.twitter.com/hVihlZSlzD

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) September 23, 2018

Lyon will also look at the first-leg during which they came under a lot of pressure but still managed to create a few chances themselves. Martin Terrier saw a fine long-range effort saved by Marc-André ter Stegen, while Houssem Aouar and Memphis Depay also missed presentable chances.

They will also be boosted by the news that captain and top scorer Nabil Fekir will be available for the second-leg after missing the first through suspension.

Barca All the Way

It’s still difficult to argue a case for anything other than a Barcelona win. Lyon will play with spirit, determination and skill but to have to go toe-to-toe with the might of Catalonia on their own patch is a formidable task at any time. To have to do so in the pressure cooker atmosphere of the Champions League knockout stages, needing to score, while having to keep Messi, Suarez and co at bay is a huge ask.

So, while we expect Lyon to fight and battle, we expect Barcelona’s sheer quality to prevail.

Pick: Barcelona 2-0