The game against Benfica was not easy for Barcelona. Another three-nil loss for Los Culés has placed their future in the competition in serious jeopardy, and with baffling perfomances like the ones some of their players put up today, it may be hard not to fear the worst for Los Blaugranas.
Even if Eric Garcia picked up a red card or if the team's midfield lacked depth when finding their strikers, fans found it in them to blame most of the team's faults on one player: Luuk de Jong. The last-minute arrival for Los Blaugranas in the summer transfer window has disappointed the team's supporters due to his inaccuracy in front of goal, and quite frankly, it is hard to disagree with them after watching his antics on the pitch.
De Jong had two big chances to turn things around for Los Blaugranas. The first one came when the game was one-nil for Benfica and he found himself in front of the Eagles' goalie Odysseas Vlachodimos. The end result? He barely had a touch on the ball and eventually awarded a goal kick to the home side.
The second one of his mishaps in front of goal came just minutes before Benfica's second goal. Ronald Araujo found him all allone inside the six-yard box with a header, but De Jong made the impossible possible by failing to find the back of the net with no Benfica players near him and with the goalkeeper beaten. To make matters worse, he struck the post while trying to score.
The first of De Jong's misses took place after the 01:00 mark in this video. The other one can be seen after three minutes of the highlights' video. Have a look at both of them by clicking on the video below (Image might be geo-restricted).
