Ernesto Valverde finds positives as Barcelona draw blank in Lyon

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  • Valverde tried to deflect attention away from Griezmann's impending arrival.

    Barcelona head coach Ernesto Valverde shrugged off his side’s continuing struggles in front of goal after they were held to a 0-0 draw at Lyon in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie.

    The usually free-scoring Catalan giants drew three games in a row before battling to a 1-0 win over Real Valladolid on Saturday, scoring only four goals across the four games.

    Three of those came from Lionel Messi, including two penalties, but the Argentina star was unable to add to his tally against a stubborn Lyon side who were without their suspended captain and top scorer Nabil Fekir.

    “It was a game that we knew was going to be tough,” Valverde said in an interview broadcast on Barcelona’s website. “They’ve got some great players, especially on the counter-attack they can hurt you a lot and what we wanted to do was dominate the game.

    “We didn’t really want to give them too many chances and I think we did that well. At the start of the game they had a couple of dangerous opportunities but I think we controlled the situation well after that and that’s football.

    “You have 25 shots and there are times when you score five and there are other days when you don’t score at all.”

    Barca defender Gerard Pique refused to criticise his goal-shy team-mates, adding: “We’ve got great strikers who have shown that throughout their careers. I think it’s a question of creating chances and having possession and I think today we have to be happy.”

    Lyon defender Jason Denayer was delighted to keep a clean sheet and believes his side can pull off a shock result in the second leg at the Nou Camp.

    “It felt good for us to keep the clean sheet because it’s very important against a team like this so I think that is a positive point from this game,” Denayer said.

    “I think we did well in defence and had a few chances to score. We didn’t take them but it’s positive to know we can create them. Today we can see we have a chance and with Nabil I think it will be a little bit better so we still have hope of winning there.”

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