Barcelona have made their worst start to a Champions League campaign ever after a chastening 3-0 defeat at Benfica.
The Portuguese side dealt a further blow to Ronald Koeman, with Barcelona slumping to their second successive defeat in the competition as they also finished the match with 10 men.
Darwin Nunez netted in the third minute and capped off his side’s scoring with a penalty in the 79th, with Rafa Silva striking in between. Eric Garcia was sent off late on.
The defeat means Barcelona are under pressure to avoid missing out on the knockout stage for the first time since the 2003-04 season when they did not feature in the competition at all.
Also in Barcelona’s group, Robert Lewandowski scored twice as Bayern Munich stormed to a 5-0 win over Dynamo Kyiv.
Lewandowski’s goals, including from the penalty spot, came inside the first half an hour, with Serge Gnabry, Leroy Sane and substitute Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting also adding their names to the scoresheet.
#SLBFCB | ⏹ Job done!#UCL pic.twitter.com/NMZxnH1QMr
— SL Benfica (@slbenfica_en) September 29, 2021
Cristiano Ronaldo capped his record-breaking Champions League appearance by firing Manchester United to a stunning late comeback win against Europa League final foes Villarreal.
A disjointed United were staring down the barrel of a third straight home defeat in all competitions when Paco Alcacer deservedly put Villarreal ahead.
But Alex Telles’ sublime volley gave Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side hope and Ronaldo secured a 2-1 win in stoppage time, sending Old Trafford wild on the night he broke Iker Casillas’ all-time Champions League appearance record.
Also in Group F, Matteo Pessina scored the only goal of the game as Atalanta secured a 1-0 home win over Young Boys.
Federico Chiesa’s rocket finish stunned Chelsea in Turin as Juventus condemned the Blues to a second straight 1-0 defeat – after their Premier League loss to Manchester City.
Italy forward Chiesa sneaked in on goal and lashed past Edouard Mendy as Chelsea were caught cold just 11 seconds into the second half.
Zenit St Petersburg stormed to a 4-0 thrashing of 10-man Malmo.
Zenit were already 2-0 up courtesy of Rodrigues Leonel and Daler Kuzyaev when Anel Ahmedhodzic was shown a straight red card in the 53rd minute. Aleksey Sutormin and Wendel then added the third and fourth goals.
Elsewhere in the competition, Red Bull Salzburg secured a 2-1 win over Lille in Group G.
In the same group substitute Ivan Rakitic scored a late penalty equaliser to ensure Sevilla secured a draw against 10-man Wolfsburg.
