Barcelona wary of weakened Lyon as they look to exorcise ghost of Rome

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 Tuesday.

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."
- 'Glass half full' -
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"Winning away in this tournament is hard, but we want to see the glass half full this season with all that we have done well."
- Fekir absent -
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