UEFA Champions League, Round Of 16: Barcelona, Lyon Win

Arsenal may be having a relatively difficult domestic campaign, but their European form has been the envy of teams far higher up the Premier League table. Having cruised though Group F, securing top spot before the final game, Arsenal were rewarded with drawing a second-place team - only to end up with defending Serie A champions AC Milan.

It’s an unfortunate draw, certainly, but as Tottenham Hotspur showed last season, Milan are hardly the all-conquering force they once were, and the Gunners can probably manage to get past them this year. In order to do that, they’ll have to get at least a draw or an away goal at the San Siro. The good news, of course, is that Arsenal’s primary weakness - their fullbacks - is rather countered by Milan offering very little on the flanks, a problem that’s compounded by Arsenal having the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on the wings.

It’s Bayer Leverkusen’s turn to make a move now, and, 2-1 down, they opt for an attacking one. Striker Stefan Kiessling replaces one of the three central midfielders in Simon Rolfes. It’s a positive switch, and it very nearly pays off immediately.

Olympique Lyonnais are doing plenty of possessing the ball and plenty of shooting at the APOEL Nicosia net, but their finishing has been very poor thus far. There’s little excuse for them to not be up a goal at halftime of their UEFA Champions League match at the Stade de Gerland, but they will be happy with their performance outside of their shooting. It’s 0-0 at halftime, but Les Gones have been the far superior side.

The worst offender so far has been youngster Alexandre Lacazette. He starred at the Under-20 World Cup in the summer where he scored off his scoring touch and he’s scored seven times for Lyon’s senior team, but he couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn in the first half. He had two poor misses and put another good opportunity right into the hands of Dionisis Chiotis.

Bayer unsurprisingly started the game in a very defensive fashion, but it was a bit startling that they didn’t look the least bit interested in attacking. Their midfield was more or less a line five yards in front of the defense, and lone striker Andre Schürrle played most of the first half inside of his own half of the pitch.

The goal finally came in the 41st minute, with Messi providing a fantastic assist for Alexis Sanchez. With the Bayer defense somehow too far up the pitch, Messi hit a fantastic pass over the top of them for Sanchez to run onto. He burned the back four and got onto the ball, then slipped it between the legs of Bernd Leno and into the back of the net.

Bayer Leverkusen starting lineup (4-3-3): Bernd Leno; Michal Kadlec, Manuel Friedrich, Daniel Schwaab, Vedran Corluka; Stefan Reinartz, Simon Rolfes, Lars Bender; Gonzalo Castro, Andre Schurrle, Renato Augusto.

Substitutes from: David Yelldell, Stefan Kiessling, Bastian Oczipka, Omer Toprak, Michael Ortega, Karim Bellarabi, Danny da Costa.

FC Barcelona starting lineup (4-3-3): Victor Valdes; Eric Abidal, Carles Puyol, Javier Mascherano, Dani Alves; Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas; Adriano, Alexis Sanchez, Lionel Messi.

Substitutes from: Jose Manuel Pinto, Pedro, Thiago Alcantara, Jonathan dos Santos, Marc Bartara, Sergi Roberto, Isaac Cuenca.

Kickoff is at 2:45 p.m. from the BayArena in Germany. You can catch the game on FOX Soccer Channel on the USA and on Sportsnet regional networks in Canada.

So, just like every other European fixture in which they’ve played recently, Barcelona are favourites. Leverkusen are a decent team, even if they’re struggling in the Bundesliga, but an on-form and motivated Barcelona regularly demolish these sorts of sides for fun. Could they manage an upset? It’s always possible, but we should hardly be on alert for one tomorrow. Expect something like a 3-1 win for Barcelona to set up a routine second leg at home.

Game Date/Time: Tuesday, February 14, 2:45 p.m. ET, 8:45 p.m. CET.