Barcelona secured qualification for the knockout phase of the Champions League Tuesday as group E winners after French champions Lyon twice came from behind to level 2-2 with the Spanish giants.
A goal for each team inside the first seven minutes set the tone for a high-tempo match which also featured two second-half penalties for either side.
Barcelona's fourth win in five matches was enough for them to achieve their aim of finishing top of group E ahead of their final match against Stuttgart.
After Rangers' 3-2 defeat to the Germans, Lyon will battle away against the Glasgow side in a fortnight for the second qualifier's spot.
Lyon were without their injured top goalscorer Karim Benzema while Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard opted to keep embattled Brazilian star Ronaldinho on the bench.
But in a lively opening period there was no shortage of action, or goals.
Andres Iniesta gave the Catalans an early, albeit brief lead after finishing off a Lionel Messi move by latching on to Bojan's cross to beat Remi Vercoutre in the Lyon goal.
Four minutes later Juninho's freekick from 30 yards went high and missed all of its targets, but bounced over the diving Victor Valdes to level the scores.
Yaya Toure's 25-yard drive dipped just over Vercoutre's crossbar as the Spaniards toyed with Lyon's defence early on, and on the quarter hour Fabio Santos was gifted the ball as he pressurised Barca's defence, only to shoot straight at Valdes.
Vercoutre then pulled off a superb save to fingertip Toure's blast from the edge of the area around the post after Eidur Gudjohnsen had chested the ball down to the Ivory Coast midfielder.
Sidney Govou was next to miss a scoring chance, blasting an angled shot straight at Valdes from the edge of the area. Juninho picked up the rebound in a crowded area, but his effort was cleared by an alert Eric Abidal from the goalline.
Lyon then won a controversial free kick after Diego Milito was ruled to have fouled Fabio Grosso but Juninho's freekick went high and wide.
Barcelona were applying most of the pressure, but the half ended on a sour note when Rijkaard was excluded from the sidelines for protesting vigourously to the fourth official following Toure's yellow card for a foul on Juninho.
Perhaps buoyed by the news that Stuttgart had levelled against group qualification rivals Rangers, Lyon emerged a more determined team in the second half.
But they suffered a huge setback when Barca were awarded a penalty in the 58th minute when Messi was fouled by Sebastien Squillaci as he strode towards goal.
The Argentine stepped up and sent Vercoutre the wrong way with a deft left-foot shot, his joy tempered somewhat by the yellow card he was shown for walking too slowly back to the centre spot.
Govou gave Lyon brief hope when he won a soft free kick for a tussle with Carles Puyol, but Juninho's effort was again off target.
In the 67th minute Barca came close to killing off the match but Vecoutre pulled off a superb diving save to block Gudjohnsen's close-range drive.
Rijkaard then sent on Ronaldinho for Gudjohnsen, who really deserved to keep his place, but in the remainder of the match the Brazilian was conspicuous by his absence.
With 10 minutes remaining Lyon were given a lifeline as the referee pointed to the penalty spot for an Abidal foul on Abdul Kader Keita.
This time, Juninho's effort wrong-footed Valdes and levelled the scores at 2-2 in the 79th minute.
