Featured Image Credit: TNT Sports
Topics: Barcelona, Champions League
Ryan Smart
Barcelona conceded a nightmare goal against Benfica in the Champions League after goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny had a moment to forget.
Hansi Flick's side went 1-0 down early to their Portuguese hosts before Robert Lewandowski equalised from the penalty spot on 13 minutes.
But eight minutes later, they were behind again - after a comical error from goalkeeper Szczesny.
The former Arsenal and Juventus goalkeeper was signed on a free transfer by Barcelona after Marc-Andre Ter Stegen suffered a season-ending injury in September, and has made several appearances despite being backup to Inaki Pena.
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But he had a nightmare moment in Lisbon after rushing out to intercept a lofted through ball by Benfica centre-back Nicolas Otamendi.
Unfortunately for the Pole, Barca left-back Alex Balde intercepted the ball first - and Szczesny's momentum meant he simply wiped out his team-mate.
And things would get even worse for Barcelona, as the loose ball fell to Benfica striker Vangelis Pavlidis, who tapped it into an empty net.
Check out the incident below.
Szczesny's night would get even worse on 28 minutes as he gave away a penalty, which was converted by Pavlidis to complete the Greece forward's hat-trick and make it 3-1 to Benfica.
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Pavlidis has become just the fourth player to score a hat-trick against Barcelona since the Champions League era began in 1992 (via Squawka), with Faustino Asprilla, Andriy Shevchenko and Kylian Mbappe the other three names on what is a prestigious list.
Barca entered the evening with five wins from their six Champions League games, sitting them in second place in the group stage table and only behind Liverpool.
They lost their opening fixture of the season 2-1 away at French side Monaco, but subsequently bounced back by winning all of their games up until the Benfica clash at the Estadio du Luz.