The under-fire Barcelona manager saw his side succumb to a 3-0 defeat against the Portuguese side.
Ronald Koeman’s woes have deepened after Barcelona‘s latest failure against Benfica in the Champions League.
The Dutch manager’s job is already at high stakes due to Barca’s poor start to the season and last night’s defeat against the Portuguese side added more insult to the injury.
Barca was expected to build on their morale-boosting win against Levante at the weekend but what happened at Lisbon last night was actually a repeat of the debacle they suffered against Bayern Munich on matchday 1.
Benfica striker Darwin Nunez opened the account before Rafa Silva doubled the lead in the second half. Nunez capped off the one-sided affair by slotting the ball home from the penalty spot – the goal also marked his second of the night.
For Barca, it was all downhill from the beginning. Eric Garcia put on a disappointing performance and his night ended when he received a red card in the 87th minute. In the attack, Luuk de Jong lacked the cutting edge and he also missed two great chances.
Having suffered a heavy defeat against Bayern on matchday 1, Barca are currently last in Group E and their chances for the knockout stages are in jeopardy.
Koeman has created an unwanted record in the process, becoming the first manager in Barca’s history to record two defeats in the first two games of the Champions League group stage.
The last time such a thing happened was during the 1972-73 UEFA Cup where Barca failed to win both of their first two games against Porto.
With Koeman admitting that he is not optimistic about his future after the defeat, it remains to be seen whether the Blaugrana would seek a new manager in the coming days.
