Barcelona star Luuk De Jong missed open goal from one yard out in Benfica loss
Barcelona’s misery continued on Wednesday night when they were beaten 3-0 by Benfica in the Champions League and the evening was particularly difficult for Luuk de Jong.
While it is manager Ronald Koeman who looks set to lose his job after the thrashing in Portugal, it is the Barca striker who has to deal with the embarrassment of an awful miss.
Benfica’s Darwin Nunez showed him how it’s done, cutting inside to smash the opening goal in at the near post after just three minutes.
After Rafa Silva had doubled the hosts’ lead following some dreadful Barca defending, Nunez completed the scoring from the penalty spot.
Things then went from bad to worse for Barcelona as Eric Garcia picked up a second yellow card in the closing stages.
Defeat is likely to be the end of the line for Koeman, whose side were also beaten 3-0 by Bayern Munich in the opening round of the Champions League.
Yet the scoreline could easily have been more respectable, had De Jong brought his shooting boots to Lisbon.
De Jong was a surprise signing by Barcelona from Sevilla on deadline day following the departure of Antoine Griezmann to Atletico Madrid – and it’s fair to say the Dutchman has not hit the ground running.
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He did score in Barca’s 3-0 win over Levante recently, but that strike is unlikely to stick in the mind as long as the miss against Benfica.
To make matters worse, the 31-year-old striker had already spurned a good opening after just 10 minutes, when the score was 1-0.
Clean through, midfielder Frenkie de Jong drew the keeper towards him and squared for his namesake, but he delayed and allowed the defender back. Replays showed his effort was going wide anyway.
Somehow things got even worse in the second half. With the score still at 1-0, Frenkie De Jong chipped into the box for Ronald Araujo to head back across goal.
There, from a yard out, De Jong contrived to knock the ball onto the post with his thigh.
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The former Newcastle United flop was delighted to see the offside flag go up, but the goal may well have stood, as it appeared Araujo might have been onside.
Koeman must have been furious watching on, given it is his neck on the chopping board.
"I'm not going to argue about the level of my team,” he said post-match.
"There's no point in comparing this with Barcelona teams of years gone by. That's as clear as water.
"I can only give you my opinion of my work at the club – I feel backed by my players and their attitude.
"The rest, the club, I'm not sure… I can't say any more, because I don't know what the club thinks in that sense. It's not in my hands."
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