Lyon: The ghost of Rome still haunts Lionel Messi and Barcelona as they find themselves in Lyon for the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday.
The Spanish champions won the domestic double last season in Ernesto Valverde’s first campaign as coach at the Camp Nou, but that achievement was marred by the nature of their exit from Europe.
After beating Roma 4-1 at home in the first leg of their quarter-final tie, they collapsed in the return in Italy, going out on away goals after a humiliating 3-0 defeat.
This season they have been driven by a desire to put that behind them and end Real Madrid’s recent dominance in the competition that has yielded three successive titles.
Impressive in the group stage, now they arrive at Lyon’s 59,000-seat Groupama Stadium seeking a first away win in the knockout phase in six attempts since a 2-0 victory at Arsenal in February 2016.
“That shows that it is a hard competition, but challenges are there to be overcome,” said Valverde on Monday as he recalled last year’s exit.
“When we came into that match, I remember everyone telling us they were the best opponents for us, that they were the weakest side, but that did not help us.
“We need to come into these games not with our guard down but with our guard up.”
Seven points clear at the top of La Liga, Barcelona are the favourites to beat a Lyon side appearing at this stage of the competition for the first time in seven years.
Liverpool host Bayern
In the other big game of the Champions League, Liverpool have been handed a boost ahead clash with Bayern Munich with Roberto Firmino cleared to link up with Jurgen Klopp’s squad.
Firmino had missed training at Melwood on Monday due to a virus, but was able to join up with his team-mates ahead of this evening’s game.
The news will come as a fillip for Klopp, who is already preparing to use midfielder Fabinho as an auxiliary centre-back for the last-16 first-leg tie at Anfield.
Dejan Lovren is unlikely to feature having sat out of yesterday’s training session, the Croatian not yet recovered from a hamstring injury sustained last month.
Firmino, though, is expected to start in a three-man attack with Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, meaning the Brazilian will maintain his record of featuring in all 34 of Liverpool’s European games under Klopp.
Bayern, meanwhile, will make a late decision over winger Kingsley Coman, who suffered a knock in their Bundesliga game with Augsburg last week.
Centre-back Jerome Boateng won’t be available, however, and was absent from the travelling party heading to Liverpool due to illness. (Agencies)
