Puyol’s dislocated elbow overshadows Barca’s win against Benfica

It was a comfortable but hard fought 2 nil win for Barca last night where Cesc played his heart out and snatched another goal for his team. The first goal came courtesy of Alexis Sánchez in the 6th minute of play to ensure Barca got the start they needed against the Lisbon giants.

The game was marred however with two incidents: Carles Puyol dislocated his left elbow charging in like a rampaging bull for a header which left the captain writhing on the ground and Sergio Busquets was shown the red card.

It was a difficult night for Barca in Lisbon and they met a stubborn Benfica who made life difficult for the Catalan side with some good offensive play.This was the second match for Barca in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League and this means a comfortable two wins out of two. Barca now have to meet Celtic to see who will win the group stage.

Thanks to Alexis Sanchez’s early goal, Barca were able to try and open up the Lisbon side but it became increasingly difficult as their 4-3-3 formation ended up a 4-5-1 thus making it very difficult for Barca to penetrate the defence.

After a difficult first half in which a solitary goal made the difference, Cesc, courtesy of a pass from Leo Messi, scored the second. That effectively put the game to bed and it was now up to Benfica to try and salvage something.

The Benfica keeper Artur, had a great hand in helping his side keep the score at a modest 0-2 as Barca were starting to play the ball around the pitch and finding the odd chance to shoot.

Messi was quieter than usual, instead opting to hover behind the front men going for goal. This tactic paid off as it was Messi who provided the assists for both Alexis and Cesc Fabregás.

After the break it was business as usual for Barca who clearly had more control of the game and had more chances. The Benfica coach Jorge Jesús brought on veteran Carlos Martins to try and add some consistency to the Benfica game but it didn’t really happen. It was up to Argentine Pablo Aimar to try and change things when he came on for Enzo Pérez.Aimar changed the game somewhat but it was far too late, Barca were winning with a 2 goal cushion and had finally started to play the way we know: knocking the ball around the field in triangle formations with the Barca crowd loving it.

Puyol dislocates his elbow

This was the worst piece of news for Barca last night; Puyol out again! The captain came charging in for a header but ended tangled in a mess on the floor after landing backwards and twisting his left elbow. The images were quite nasty and what did the damage was the fact that Carles fell onto his left arm trapping it under his body. Carles does seem to be jinxed this year regarding injuries as he has just come back from a fractured cheek bone. Puyol’s injury came on 77 minutes and after being attended on the pitch by medical staff, he was stretchered off to a standing ovation from the Lisbon supporters, which was great to see.

As Puyol was being seen to, the look on the Barca players was just incredible. Alexis Sánchez seemed to be overcome with emotion for his stricken captain.

Alex Song promptly took up Puyol’s role with just over ten minutes to the final whistle. The referee had to show numerous yellow cards to Benfica players last night as things started to turn a little nasty on the field. Jardel, Matic and Martins were all booked by the Turkish ref for dangerous play.

Barca didn’t receive any yellow cards but Serio Busquets did manage to pick up a red one for aggression when he cleared the ball away with force kicking it at the Benfica players. Busquets now misses the clash with Celtic and Alves gave us a worry when Matic elbowed the Brazilian. The worry was short lived as Alves was able to return to play the last minutes of the game.

So, Barca picks up another 3 points to make it two wins in a row. It was a difficult game at Lisbon against Benfica but Barca’s quality and perseverance shone through on a night that Puyol’s injury took the edge off the glory.

Watch the video of the moment when Carles Puyol dislocates his left arm