Barcelona travelled to Lisbon this evening to face Benfica in the second round of the group stage of the Champions League. Ronald Koeman’s men took a 3-0 beating from Bayern Munich at Camp Nou in the first round, and were keen to get back to winning ways. Benfica drew 0-0 with Dynamo Kyiv in their opener.
🏟 Estádio da Luz
📍 Lisbon, Portugal
🤝 #BenficaBarça
🏆 @ChampionsLeague pic.twitter.com/y0J9jAnKdi— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) September 29, 2021
Barcelona sit sixth in La Liga and have endured a mixed start to the season. They’ve struggled to kickstart their new era having lost Lionel Messi to Paris Saint-Germain. They did, however, beat Levante 3-0 at the weekend and welcomed back Ansu Fati, who’d missed 323 days through injury. Benfica are top of the Primeira Liga and have won seven out of seven league games.
#Benfica #BenficaBarça #UCL
Benfica [2] – 0 Barcelona | GOAL! Rafa SilvaFollow me to never miss any goal highlights.
pic.twitter.com/awNnD0brXM— Ronard Addo (@ronard_addo) September 29, 2021
It took three minutes for Barcelona to go a goal down. Benfica carved through their three-man defence like hot butter, with Eric Garcia in particular badly exposed. Darwin Nunez then stepped up to deliver the crucial blow and make it 1-0. Things got worse in the second half; Rafa Silva doubled Benfica’s advantage in the 69th minute to turn a bad night for Barcelona into a disaster.
