Jean-Michel Aulas has been the driving force behind Olympique Lyonnais ambition to win the Champions League for many years now and, although such a dream is as arguably as distant as ever, the president of the Rhone Valley club is back his team to deliver a fine performance against Barcelona at the Stade Gerland this evening.

Only a matter of hours now lie until kick-off this evening and, in an interview with radio station RMC, Aulas has backed his side to really test a Barcelona team widely considered to be the best in the world.

I have confidence in [general manager] Claude Puel and his players to really deliver the fight to Barca, he declared. As we are not favourites, nobody can accuse us of anything if we dont qualify. But we will try and give Lyon and all of France something to be proud of. We will do everything possible to resist them and go to Barcelona to qualify.

The odds appear to be stacked against Lyon; however, les Gones have been peaking in Ligue 1 lately while Barcelonas form has slipped somewhat, sparking talk of a crisis in the Catalan club. Claude Puel and his men will be ignoring such claims and simply concentrating on producing a performance that lives up to their presidents high expectations.

Hope they go down for real.