Injuries blight Barca and Lyon ahead of Euro clash

Barcelona and Lyon have both been struck by injuries to key personnel ahead of their Champions League round of 16 second-leg clash at the Nou Camp here on Wednesday.

The Spanish league leaders are favourites to progress after Thierry Henry’s header earned a 1-1 draw and secured a potentially crucial away goal in the first leg, but they must do without injured defenders Carles Puyol and Eric Abidal.

Puyol, the Barca captain, will be out for up to three weeks after spraining his left ankle in the closing stages of his side’s 2-0 win over Athletic Bilbao on Saturday while France international Abidal, a former Lyon player, is out with a leg injury.

Lyon, meanwhile, are sweating on the fitness of star striker Karim Benzema, who was substituted at half-time in the seven-time champions’ 2-0 loss against Lille on Saturday after aggravating a hip injury.

“I don’t know if I’m going to play on Wednesday,” said Benzema, who originally sustained the injury in a 1-1 draw at home to Rennes on March 1.

“If I can’t play I’ll be really disappointed. But if I’m in pain I’ll give my place to someone else, because I don’t want to start the match and have to come off after 15 minutes.”

“We’ll see how he progresses,” said Lyon coach Claude Puel, who could also be without centre-back Jean-Alain Boumsong (knee) and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris (illness), both of whom were absent on Saturday.

Wednesday’s match coincides with an alarming dip in Lyon’s domestic form.

Their hopes of defending the French Cup crown were dashed by a 3-2 defeat at Lille in mid-week, and the same side’s 2-0 victory at the Stade de France in Paris at the weekend allowed second-placed Paris Saint Germain to close the gap on the leaders to just a single point.

This is Lyon’s eighth consecutive appearance in the Champions League but they have never advanced beyond the quarter-final stage and club president Jean-Michel Aulas thinks it will take “an intergalactic effort” to prevail in Catalonia.

“Barca are the favourites because they have less injuries than us and they have a squad of huge quality,” he said.

“They’re one of the best teams in Europe and they’ve just achieved a good result in the league. It will take an intergalactic effort to eliminate Barca.”

Barca’s victory over Athletic Bilbao – who they will meet in the final of the King’s Cup – enabled them to open up a six-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, and striker Samuel Eto’o said his side had overcome a recent stumble that saw them pick up just one point in three league matches.

“Are we back to our best?” asked the Cameroonian who scored Barca’s first goal in their 2-1 win over Arsenal in the 2006 Champions League final in Paris.

“Well we won and kept a clean sheet, which is great, but to be honest we were playing well before. However, we were conceding goals and drawing or losing the games.”

Eto’o’s colleague Seydou Keita, however, was keen to sound a note of caution when asked about Barca’s bidding as pre-match favourites.

“Lyon are the team that have made things hardest for us so far this season,” the Malian defensive midfielder said.

“They are a good team, the best in France, and it?ll be a dangerous game for us.”