Barcelona only drew with Benfica, hopes of promotion are slowly dying

On Tuesday night, Barcelona played a crucial game against Benfica. They needed a win to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League. But it failed to do so and will have to rely on the help of another team in the next round.

Despite the inclement weather, with the Camp Nou being drenched under a torrent of rain, Barcelona came into Benfica in real style. Their activity saw them create a number of chances, but these went unused.

This continued until the 34th minute, when Marc-André ter Stegen still managed to intervene brilliantly against Roman Yaremchuk’s first header. From the ensuing corner, Benfica did manage to get the ball into the net, but the ball went over the line in flight and the goal could not be awarded.

Yusuf Demir came very close to scoring in the 43rd minute, but his shot only hit the crossbar. Both teams went to the booths with a 0:0 scoreline.

Barcelona put in a really tough performance in difficult conditions, but it also showed that a very young team lacks the finishing coolness of Luis Suárez and Lionel Messi. It is this that the Catalan side, led by Xavi, could be paying the price for some time.

However, the second act looked different to the first. Neither team could get into the end zone for a long time. Barcelona, however, gradually took the reins of the match on their side, hardly letting Benfica get the ball.

In the 68th minute, Ousmane Dembele was beautifully released on the right side and his centre found the head of Frenkie de Jong, whose finish was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos. 12 minutes later, Ronald Araujo’s beautiful goal was disallowed for offside.

The setup then offered a huge opportunity for the Portuguese team, but Haris Seferovic missed a nearly empty goal after a 2-on-1 counter-attack. It was the last chance of the match, so Barcelona could breathe a deep sigh of relief that their hopes are still alive, but the situation is not completely in their hands.

With a game to go in the group stage, Barcelona are second in their group, but they will face Bayern, where they will definitely not be the favourites. It will have to win, a draw is not enough to advance. To do that, it must hope that Benfica lose to Dynamo Kiev in Catalonia.

Source: UEFA