Barcelona conceded a nightmare goal against Benfica in the Champions League after goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny had a moment to forget.
Hansi Flickâs team fell behind 1-0 early to their Portuguese opponents before Robert Lewandowski equalized with a penalty in the 13th minute.
However, just eight minutes later, they found themselves behind again due to a comical mistake by goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Szczesny, who joined Barcelona on a free transfer after Marc-Andre Ter Stegen’s season-ending injury in September, had made several appearances as the backup to Inaki Pena. But in Lisbon, he had a nightmare moment. Rushing to intercept a lofted through ball from Benfica’s Nicolas Otamendi, Szczesny was beaten to the ball by Barcelona’s left-back Alex Balde, and his momentum caused him to collide with his teammate.
Things got worse for Barcelona as the loose ball fell to Benfica striker Vangelis Pavlidis, who easily slotted it into an empty net.
Watch the incident below.
Szczesny’s night took another turn for the worse in the 28th minute when he conceded a penalty, which was confidently converted by Vangelis Pavlidis to complete the Greek strikerâs hat-trick and put Benfica 3-1 ahead.
Pavlidis became only the fourth player to score a hat-trick against Barcelona since the Champions League era began in 1992, joining an elite list that includes Faustino Asprilla, Andriy Shevchenko, and Kylian Mbappe.
Barcelona entered the match with five wins from their first six Champions League games, placing them second in their group, just behind Liverpool. They had suffered a 2-1 loss to Monaco in their opening match but had bounced back by winning all subsequent games until their defeat to Benfica at the EstĂĄdio da Luz.
