Miserable Barcelona thrashed by Benfica in Champions League clash

Barcelona were at the wrong end of a shock result as they were thrashed 3-0 by Portuguese outfit Benfica in their UEFA Champions League matchday two encounter at the Estadio da Luz.

Coming into the match on the back of a morale-boosting 3-0 win over Levante at the weekend, hopes were high in the Barcelona camp that they would get a good result away from home against Benfica.

Benfica hardly gave their visitors any time to settle before they opened the scoring. Barcelona midfielder Pedri was tackled in the midfield and lost the ball, leading to a counterattack for Benfica. Uruguayan forward Darwin Nunez picked up the ball ran into the box before cutting inside ex-Manchester City man Eric Garcia and finding the corner with a sweet strike in the third minute of the match.

Benfica continued to ask questions of a Barcelona side that looked short of confidence, but both sides looked evenly matched as the first half petered out at a normal pace. Barcelona tried and failed to get back on level terms, with Luuk De Jong and Frenkie De Jong particularly guilty of missing good chances.

The second half resumed with both sides looking to pull clear in a game of fine margins. Benfica came close to scoring a second only seven minutes into the second half as goalscorer Nunez crashed an effort from distance against the woodwork after Barcelona keeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen bizarrely gifted him the ball outside the box.

With the match evenly contested between both sides, Benfica took a huge step towards picking up the three points by scoring a second through Portuguese forward Rafa Silva. Portugal midfielder Joao Mario had tried to score and seen his shot blocked by Ter Stegen before Silva slammed home the rebound in the 70th minute to double his side’s advantage.

The rout was completed in the 79th minute by Uruguayan striker Nunez as he sent Ter Stegen the wrong way from the spot after Sergino Dest handled a header from Adel Taarabt in the box.

Barcelona’s miserable night was compounded in the 87th minute after Garcia received his marching orders after picking up two yellow cards, his second sending off for the side already this season.

Barcelona have now lost their first two group games in a UEFA Champions League season for the first time in the club’s history after losing 3-0 to Bayern Munich on matchday one. They face an uphill task of trying to qualify from the group stage already after only two matches.

In the group’s other game, Bayern Munich thrashed Dynamo Kiev 5-0 at the Allianz Arena thanks to goals from Serge Gnabry, Leroy Sane, Eric-Maxim Choupo Moting and a Robert Lewandowski brace.