By Pete Jenson for MailOnline
Published: 13:57 GMT, 20 February 2019 | Updated: 13:57 GMT, 20 February 2019
View
comments
Luis Suarez's Champions League away-day goal drought sounds bad however you phrase it. It’s either 16 straight away games in Europe not scoring, or 1,510 minutes, or 24 hours, or three years.
But there is worse news for Barcelona: Suarez was not the biggest culprit of their failure to put one past Lyon on Tuesday; the club have not won away in a knockout game in Europe for three years; and they have managed just one goal in open play in their last four games in Spain.
The formidable forward line of Suarez, Lionel Messi, Ousmane Dembele and Philippe Coutinho – around £435million worth in terms of what they cost and the Argentine’s current value – has become temporarily, at least, easy to contain.
Luis Suarez's Champions League goal drought away from home continued on Tuesday night
Uruguayan fired another blank against Lyon to make it 16 games without scoring on the road
Suarez’s long-term problem is not helping things. He tensed up several times in front of goal on Tuesday night snatching at chances. And the weight of the unwanted record seemed to be weighing heavy judging from the pained expression he wore as he left the field.
But the problems go beyond the No 9. Barcelona have scored just once in six away knockout games since they beat Arsenal 2-0 at the Emirates in 2016.
On Tuesday night the front three gave the ball away 50 times between them. Suarez lost possession 15 times, Messi 17 times and Dembele 18 times. The French winger has regressed since his injury and once again looks too
