Benzema stunned by Barça brilliance

Perhaps being brutally honest with themselves in times of trouble has been a key part of the dynasty built at Olympique Lyonnais during their last seven years of total domination in French football.

Outstanding performances
If so, then the general reaction following their 5-2 defeat against FC Barcelona at the Camp Nou and a 6-3 aggregate elimination from the UEFA Champions League first knockout round was notably healthy. To the neutral eye Claude Puel's side had given Barcelona a firm footballing and physical test before the outstanding performances of Thierry Henry, Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta won the night. But according to both striker Karim Benzema and Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas, this was a back-to-the-drawing board night.

Self-examination
"It is a real disappointment to lose like this because Barça were immensely superior to us," Aulas argued. "It's rare you see such a powerful performance and I'm not only worried for Lyon but for French football. This was the best French club of the last ten years and to lose in this manner is very troubling. My opinion is that despite the fact our team fought back and had a chance to make it 4-3 the important thing is not to look for justification but to opt for self-examination.

'Bravo to Barcelona'
"It's not only the players of Lyon who have failed in this test," he continued, "this is a moment for all of us in French football to question ourselves as to why Spanish and English football have each become so much stronger than us. I'd have been much happier for a player like Juninho [Pernambucano] if he could have finished the match on a better note than receiving a second yellow card, but I still say bravo to Barcelona who are a formidable rival."

Title defence
Benzema, who helped his team's rally in the second half and produced a neat dummy to allow Juninho Lyon's second goal, was equally rigorous in his post-match post mortem. "I don't think we showed anything of our real quality tonight but the fact remains we hardly saw the ball and Barcelona were much better than us so we can have no complaints. At half-time we set ourselves the objective of winning the second half and though we improved we didn't even do that. I'm just left with the impression of how superior Barcelona were to us. Now we have to focus completely on retaining our French league title in a season when it's proving more difficult than all the others we have won before."