Barcelona’s Last-16 hopes take a hit with Benfica draw

Barcelona manager Xavi

New Barcelona boss Xavi remains positive after a goalless draw at the Camp Nou with Benfica in his Champions League debut. Barcelona's hopes of advancing in the top European club competition took a hit. After failing to get the job done at home, Barcelona know they will likely need a win at unbeaten Bayern Munich to avoid their first group stage elimination in the Champions League in nearly two decades.

A win would have guaranteed Barcelona a spot in the knockout stages for the 18th straight season, but they couldn't capitalise on the chances. The draw kept the Catalan club in second place in Group E, two points ahead of Benfica, but the Portuguese side have the tiebreaker advantage if they beat already eliminated Dynamo Kyiv at home and Barcelona fail to defeat group winners Bayern in Germany in the final round.

Bayern won 2-1 at Dynamo in the other group match on Tuesday to record their fifth straight victory in the competition. Benfica haven't made it past the group stage since 2016-17.

Also Read: Benfica to give Barca an early test of belief under coach Xavi

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever