There can only be one absolute low, but it seems like every week a new low is discovered in Barcelona.
Benfica beat Ronald Koeman’s team 3-0 in Lisbon on Tuesday, less than two weeks after losing 3-0 at Bayern Munich.
As Group E’s cellar dwellers, the five-time champions are looking at the potential of missing the knockout round for the first time since the 2003-04 season.
Another sad factoid of this continuous Barça tragedy is that Lionel Messi, who only last week flared into life at Paris Saint-Germain by scoring the kind of stunning goal.
He so often showered the blaugrana with, is still the most recent Barcelona player to score in the championship. When they lose, the pressure on Koeman just increases.
The Dutchman scored the game-winning goal that ended Barcelona’s long title drought in 1992, but his current squad appears to be light-years away from championship contention.
Barcelona Stare At Group-Stage Elimination After Benfica Draw
Barcelona knows it will likely need a win at unbeaten Bayern Munich to avoid its first group-stage elimination in the UEFA Champions League.
In over two decades after failing to get the job done at home against Benfica. (Even More Football-Related News)
After Tuesday’s scoreless draw against Benfica at the Camp Nou Stadium in the Champions League, Barcelona’s playoff ambitions took a major setback.
Barcelona failed to capitalise on its opportunities in Xavi Hernández’s first Champions League game as a head coach, and as a result will not advance to the knockout stages for the 18th season in a row.
Ronald Araujo, a defender, thought he had scored the game-winning goal in the 83rd minute, but it was ruled out because he was offside.
Conclusion
After a scoreless draw with Benfica on Tuesday night at the Camp Nou, Barcelona’s chances of advancing from Group E in the 2021/22 Champions League are slim.
Benfica will face Dynamo Kyiv on the last matchday, while Barcelona will travel to Munich to face archrivals Bayern.
The Catalans are still in second place in the group, two points ahead of the Portuguese club.
Xavi’s starting lineup had Yusuf Demir up top and Clement Lenglet starting alongside Gerard Pique in the back line.
