Benfica stun Barcelona with emphatic 3-0 Champions League victory

Benfica secured a sensational 3-0 victory over a hapless Barcelona on a historic night in Lisbon to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.

The win provides a major boost to Benfica's hopes of progressing to the Champions League round of 16, having seen off their likely competitors for 2nd place in the group by such a significant margin.

It marks the first time that Benfica have managed to defeat a Barcelona side in European competition in nearly 60 years, ensuring today's generation of fans managed to witness such a result for the very first time.

Few would have expected Benfica to pull off such a landmark result this time last year, but the departure of Messi and the youthful nature of this Barcelona side ensured that Benfica always had a chance in this one, despite still going into the match as underdogs.

How it unfolded

Excitement was building as kickoff approached - and with it was the optimism. Benfica fans were beginning to feel confident that they could secure victory - and it could not have started any better for the Benfica faithful when Darwin Nuñez latched onto an exquisite over the top ball from Weigl before chopping inside to slot home within the opening 4 minutes.

Barcelona grew into the game from that point forth though, and created some very promising attacking opportunities, cutting through the Benfica backline at times. Luuk de Jong particularly had two excellent chances to score, but missed the target on both occasions. If the Spanish outfit had a clinical finisher, things could have gone differently.

Equally, however, Barcelona can consider themselves fortunate to have finished the first half with eleven men, with veteran defender Pique fairly inexplicably not shown a second yellow card after half an hour. He was promptly taken off by Ronald Koeman just moments later, all but confirming how fortunate he was to have still been on the field.

Nevertheless, for all the possession and chances Barcelona tried to create, Benfica remained pretty disciplined and resilient defensively, and every ball that was whipped into the box was dealt with with confidence.

It ensured that the Lisbon giants went into the break with an impressive lead - but knew a tough second half was still to come.

But despite Barcelona again seeing plenty of the ball, rarely did they manage to threaten Benfica, one moment in which the ball was scrambled onto the Benfica post the one concerning moment - but the flag went up for offside anyway.

And as the half went on, and Barcelona had to overcommit more, Benfica became an increasing threat on the break, and could sense the opportunity to double their advantage. Darwin Nuñez so nearly clinched his second if the game, rounding the out-rushing Ter-Stegen, but striking the post from range.

That Darwin miss felt like it could be costly, yet moments after Barcelona turned to their substitutes bench to bring on the big guns in Coutinho and Fati, Benfica broke with impressive speed, overloading Barcelona in a beautiful attacking move to force the ball into the back of the net, Rafa Silva eventually rifling home after João Mario's initial effort was saved to double Benfica's advantage.

Benfica fans were in dreamland, able to watch a little more easily with a two goal cushion.

And things would only get better for the hosts, awarded a penalty late on after a clear Dest handball, and Darwin made no mistake from the spot, slotting home with the utmost composure to round off a stunning night in Lisbon.

There was one final bleak moment for Barcelona, with Eric Garcia sent off for a second yellow card offence near the end.

A European night Benfica haven’t experienced for years

It has been a long, long time since Benfica have managed to beat any team that is considered a powerhouse of European football. For the past few years, Benfica’s European adventures have been those of disappointment, be it the year they secured 0 points in the Champions League group stage in the 2017-18 season, or when they didn’t even qualify for Europe’s elite competition, knocked out in the qualifiers against PAOK.

You have to go back to 2017 when Benfica registered a victory over an established European giant in Borussia Dortmund, beating the German side 1-0 at home but losing 4-1 away to get knocked out in the round of 16.

For a memorable win in the group stage, you have to go back to 2015, when they managed to defeat Atletico Madrid - La Liga champions just a year prior - 2-1 away from home.

But this result is on another level. Yes, it is a Barcelona side that is almost unrecognisable and still feeling the effects of the departure of their talisman Lionel Messi, but Barcelona is Barcelona, and to beat them so emphatically ensures that this is a night that will go down in history.

It is no doubt Benfica’s best result in European competition since their Europa League semi-final victory over Juventus back in the 2013-14 season, their best Champions League result since beating Liverpool home and away in the 2005-06 round of 16. Whether they will manage to maintain momentum and finish above Barcelona remains to be seen, but for now, Benfica fans will rightly celebrate a remarkable result.

Julian Wiegl. From Sport Lisboa e Benfica. From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9KP7DiOId4.