Lyon vs. Barcelona teams: Dembele benches Coutinho in Champions League

Lyon vs. Barcelona teams: Dembele benches Coutinho in Champions League

 La principal novedad del 11 titular será ver al catalán en el centro del campo / | sport

Sergi Roberto takes the third and final midfield place

The moment of truth is here. After three successive failure in the Champions League, Barcelona take on Lyon in this year's last 16 full of hope. There's pressure to not commit the same errors as in recent years but the team, led by captain Lionel Messi, are depserate to return to the top of Europe. 

Lyon will be a big test. Barça face the French side full of doubts despite their handsome lead at the top of La Liga thanks to Atletico and Real Madrid's slipups. Recent performances have not been brilliant but Ernesto Valverde's side have always come good in this competition this season: against Tottenham, Inter and PSV. 

Valverde has all his regulars available for the game except the injured Arthur. In the place of the Brazilian comes Sergi Roberto, pushed into midfield ahead of Arturo Vidal, Philippe Coutinho and Carles Aleña. 

The other decision had to be made in attack. Valverde has chosen Barça's second most expensive ever signing Ousmane Dembele over the club's most expensive ever signing Coutinho. The 160 million euro man starts on the bench in France. 

All eyes will be on Lionel Messi but it's also a big game for Luis Suarez. The Uruguayan's not scored away from home in the Champions League for over three years. His last effort in the competition on the road was on Sept. 16, 2015, at Roma in the group stage. 

Teams Olympique Lyon-FC Barcelona:

OLYMPIQUE LYON: Lopes; Dubois, Marcelo, Denayer, Mendy; Aouar, NDombele; Terrier, Depay, Traoré; Dembélé.

FC BARCELONA: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Jordi Alba; Busquets, Rakitic, Sergi Roberto; Messi, Luis Suárez, Dembélé.