Olympique Lyonnais held Barcelona to a 1-1 draw at the Stade Gerland in their first leg tie of their Champions League clash on Tuesday evening. Les Gones led 1-0 thanks to a superb free kick from Juninho but failed to take advantage of their first period supremacy, eventually succumbing in the second half to a Thierry Henry header.

Henry, Frances record international goalscorer, has exclusively explained to Goal.com that he always felt Lyon would provide stiff opposition.

I know the quality of the Lyon side, he stated after the match. Even if Yaya [Touré] and Seydou [Keita] have both played in the French league, I am the one most aware of their qualities.

We knew that we shouldnt allow Juninho any chance to shoot from free-kicks around our box. He pulled a great goal out of his hat by scoring from a very difficult angle.

The Barcelona star admitted that things were particularly difficult in the first half, and that the Blaugrana were perhaps lucky to only face a one goal deficit at half-time.

We really suffered in the first half because Lyon played really well, he conceded. In the second period, we did not panic. We continued to play our game and increased the intensity of our attacking. Finally, we managed to equalise.

Henry revealed the contrast between Barcas first and second half performances was a simple tactical change made by coach Pep Guardiola at half-time. Pep told us to keep playing but he asked [the forwards] to support the midfield a little more, the 31-year-old stated. We won the battle in the middle of the pitch, which provided us with a little more ammunition.

Despite this improvement in the second half, Henry would not be drawn into making any rash predictions before the second leg in a fortnights time. We have two or three games to play before we meet Lyon [again], he stated. OL are in the same situation. A lot can happen during this period; players can get hurt and others can come back. It will be a tough game, but in Juninho, Lyon have a player that has an exceptional ability to break any deadlock.

Although Henry is playing coy, Barca will be widely considered favourites to progress as Lyon will need to secure an unlikely away win or a high scoring draw to move into the quarter-finals.