Benfica 3-0 Barcelona: More pressure on Ronald Koeman after Champions League defeat

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Last updated on 4 minutes ago.From the section European Football

Benfica swept aside Barcelona to heap more pressure on boss Ronald Koeman, whose side have made their worst start to a Champions League campaign.

Barca have lost their opening two matches for the first time, and sit bottom of Group E.

Benfica opened the scoring inside three minutes, when Darwin Nunez cut inside and finished low into the near corner.

Rafa Silva then clipped in a second and Nunez netted a penalty in a comfortable victory for the home side.

Nunez also hit the post from out wide after rounding stranded Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who made a rash decision to charge out of his area.

Luuk de Jong missed a glorious chance to level for the visitors early in the first half when presented with a seemingly open goal.

But Barca, also beaten 3-0 by Bayern Munich in their opening game, only registered one effort on target and had Eric Garcia sent off for a second booking with three minutes remaining.

Defeat means Barcelona are in danger of failing to reach the knockout stage for the first time since the 2003-04 season, when they did not qualify for the Champions League.

The last time they failed to progress from the first group stage when playing in the competition was in the 2000-01 campaign.

Reaction to Wednesday's Champions League matches

Line-ups

Benfica

Formation 3-4-3

99Vlachodimos
4Veríssimo da Silva
30OtamendiBooked at 33mins
5Vertonghen
22LazaroSubstituted forJuniorat 45+1'minutes
28WeiglBooked at 72mins
20João Mário
3GrimaldoBooked at 62minsSubstituted forMagalhães de Almeidaat 75'minutes
27Ferreira SilvaBooked at 56minsSubstituted forAfonso Fernandesat 86'minutes
15YaremchukSubstituted forTaarabtat 75'minutes
9NúñezSubstituted forMatias Ramosat 86'minutes

Substitutes

2Junior
7Sousa Soares
11Meité
18Cunha Pereira de Pinho
21Afonso Fernandes
23Radonjic
34Magalhães de Almeida
49Taarabt
77Aleixo Leite
83Carvalho Fernandes
88Matias Ramos
91Rodrigues da Silva

Barcelona

Formation 3-4-1-2

1ter Stegen
4Araujo
3PiquéBooked at 12minsSubstituted forPaez Gaviriaat 33'minutes
24GarcíaBooked at 87mins
20RobertoSubstituted forMinguezaat 89'minutes
21de Jong
5BusquetsSubstituted forGonzález Iglesiasat 68'minutesBooked at 86mins
2DestBooked at 78mins
16González LópezSubstituted forCoutinhoat 68'minutes
17de JongSubstituted forFati Vieiraat 68'minutes
9Depay

Substitutes

6Puig Martí
10Fati Vieira
11Demir
13Murara Neto
14Coutinho
15Lenglet
22Mingueza
23Umtiti
26Peña Sotorres
28González Iglesias
30Paez Gaviria

Live Text

Match ends, Benfica 3, Barcelona 0.
Second Half ends, Benfica 3, Barcelona 0.
Foul by Ansu Fati (Barcelona).
Nicolás Otamendi (Benfica) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Offside, Barcelona. Philippe Coutinho tries a through ball, but Memphis Depay is caught offside.
Philippe Coutinho (Barcelona) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Foul by Julian Weigl (Benfica).
Substitution, Barcelona. Óscar Mingueza replaces Sergi Roberto.
Second yellow card to Eric García (Barcelona) for a bad foul.
Foul by Eric García (Barcelona).
Gonçalo Ramos (Benfica) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Substitution, Benfica. Gonçalo Ramos replaces Darwin Núñez.
Substitution, Benfica. Pizzi replaces Rafa.
Nico González (Barcelona) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Foul by Nico González (Barcelona).
João Mário (Benfica) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Ansu Fati (Barcelona) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Foul by Lucas Veríssimo (Benfica).
Goal! Benfica 3, Barcelona 0. Darwin Núñez (Benfica) converts the penalty with a right footed shot to the bottom right corner.
Sergiño Dest (Barcelona) is shown the yellow card for hand ball.