Barcelona’s sad slide continues after beating Benfica in Champions League

just over a fortnight from 3-0 Dismantling At the hands of Bayern Munich, Benfica ripped apart Ronald Koeman’s side from the same scoreline in Lisbon last night.

The five-time winners have the worst start ever Champions League campaign and – at the bottom of Group E – face the unlikely prospect of failing to reach the knockout stage for the first time since the 2003–04 season.

in that week Lionel Messi Life roared in Paris Saint-Germain – scoring the kind of tempting goal he often blessed blaugrana With — it’s another pitiful footnote to the ongoing Barca tragedy that the Argentine remains the most recent Barcelona player to score in the competition.

“I’m not going to argue about the level of my team,” Koeman told reporters after the game.

“It doesn’t make sense to compare it with Barcelona’s teams of years. It’s as clear as the water.

“I can only give you my opinion about my work at the club – I feel supported by my players and their attitude. The rest, the club, I’m not sure … I can’t say more because I don’t know me Don’t know what the club thinks in that sense. It’s not in my hands.”

“I don’t think changing the coach is the solution,” de Jong said.

“I can’t talk about Koman, it’s not my place. We have to keep fighting, stay together and get over this situation. We can only survive this by working hard and uniting as a team. “

The writing was on the wall within three minutes in Lisbon – Darwin Nez retreated too easily behind Barcelona’s high-line before cutting and sliding a low effort past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

Luc de Jong was given a golden opportunity to equalize later in the half when his name squared the ball for an open goal, but the Dutchman inexplicably inflated his shot – the ball hit the corner rather than the net. He was getting closer to the flag.

Rafa Silva added a second before Nez converted the penalty for his brace, putting the result beyond doubt, with only ten minutes to play.

Yet Barcelona still found time to hurt themselves more – with summer signing Eric Garcia sent for a second yellow card in the closing stages.

As they did against Bayern two weeks ago, Barcelona ended the game with youngsters on the pitch. Before Garcia left early, the average age was just over 22 years old.

Many of these young players – none other than the highly talented Anu Fati and Ronald Araujo – now face the burden of attempting to pull the club out of this current nadir, a challenge made even more difficult by Barcelona’s dire financial situation. has gone.

Last month, President Joan Laporta revealed the full extent of the club’s “very worrying” situation, saying Barcelona are now more than $1.5 billion in debt and have a negative net worth of $515 million.

Barca host Dynamo Kiev on 20 October, which has certainly become a must-play, already in the third match of the group.

Whether Koman will be on edge for Kiev’s Camp Nou tour remains to be seen, but Barcelona’s growing woes are all visible.