It was a terrible start for Barcelona as Spanish left-back Alvaro Carreras delivered a beautiful cross for Vangelis Pavlidis and smashed into the back of the net – Wojciech Szczesny, making his first Champions League appearance for Barcelona, was outgunned how therefore to stop it.
However, Barcelona were only behind for eleven minutes. Alejandro Balde made a fine run into the Benfica penalty area before being fouled by Antonio Silva. Nothing was given on the pitch, but after a VAR check a foul was awarded. Robert Lewandowski stepped up from twelve meters and made no mistake to score his 102nd Champions League goal.
Barcelona took control from then on, but Benfica took the lead again after a howler from Wojciech Szczesny, who gave Pavlidis the chance to score his second goal, which he also converted. The Greek striker would get his hat-trick goal from the penalty spot shortly afterwards after a foul in the penalty area by the Polish goalkeeper, whose return to the Champions League was a disaster.
Raphinha had made it 3-2 in bizarre circumstances, but Ronald Araujo turned the ball into his own net so that Benfica could grab the fourth of the evening a few minutes later. However, Barcelona are now back on one point as Lewandowski has scored his second penalty of the evening.
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