Lyon skipper Juninho rattled in a left-flank freekick which totally deceived the Barca keeper, who saw the ball bounce over his head in despair.

However, Guardiola believes that Valdes could have done nothing to stop the Brazilian set-piece specialist.

"Juninho's goal was a really nice one. It was not a mistake from Victor Valdes - nobody could have stopped it," the Barca coach said after the game.

"It was a brilliant freekick and not even seven goalkeepers would have stopped it!"

Valdes committed a shocking blunder at the weekend in the 2-1 home defeat to lowly Espanyol, when he was dispossessed by Ivan Dela Pena, who struck the winner at Nou Camp.

Very Good

Guardiola was satisfied with the away draw as he intends to have his side ready for the return leg in two weeks time.

"This is a very good result against a very good team. We still have a game to play at home," he said.

"When you win easily by creating a lot of opportunities, you don't have to ask yourself too many questions. But tonight that was not the case; it was really difficult and there are a lot of things we have to correct.

"During the first half we did not play very well so we will have to be more aggressive in two weeks."

Juninho's Goal