On Tuesday, Olympique Lyonnais face Barcelona in the Round of 16 of the Champions League, with a huge challenge ahead of them. A challenge that the Gym were the first French club to complete during a normal time* in 1973...

The immense Barça kicked into touch. Hurt at the Ray and then eventually sunk as they were split apart, before a fantastic Baratelli stopped them from reducing the damage in the second leg. In 1973, everything came down to the first leg. And the first leg will remained engraved on the walls of the city. On 19 September, the magicians were out on show: they wore the red and black shirt, but were playing in white that evening. 

Nice were playing in the UEFA Cup. Johan Cruyff had just arrived at Barça but was unable to take part in the fixture. The city and the Ray were on fire, a perfect environment for the Aiglons to devour their prey. Van Dijk opened the scoring, Molitor got a brace and the giants were shaken.

Barça won the return leg 2-0 but were knocked out of the tournament. The Aiglons continued their run, eliminating Fenerbahçe, before falling at the hands of Cologne.

46 years separate us from that legendary evening. Over the last five decades, in France, only Strasbourg (see below), Metz (during the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1984) and Paris (in the Champions League in 1995) have managed to walk in the footsteps of those Nice giants, knocking out the Catalans during the knockout stages. In the 3rd Millennium, Lyon and Paris are yet to repeat this performance.  

So the day of this great challenge for French football deserves a little look back through the archives. To pay hommage to the pioneers. And because the images are worth so much more than the words. 

*Strasbourg eliminated Barça after a coin toss in the Round of 16 of the C3 (1964-65 season).

---