This was supposed to be Lionel Messi’s night as the Argentine chased down Gerd Muller’s goalscoring record, but it turned into a non-event as Messi was left on the bench and Benfica missed out on the chance to qualify as they were held to a 0-0 draw despite dominating.
Barcelona boss Tito Vilanova named a virtual reserve side and it showed in an insipid performance from his team as the visitors dominated from the opening whistle.
Indeed, Barca were left anxiously awaiting news from the medical room after Messi came on as a substitute but was soon stretchered off, apparently with a knee injury.
Benfica missed a golden chance in the 11th minute when former Real Madrid trainee Rodrigo beat the offside trap to run onto Ola John’s pass. He was clean through on goal but placed his shot horribly wide of Jose Pinto’s right-hand post.
Then Lima sent a header narrowly wide from Nolito’s cross as Benfica tried to take advantage of a series of corners.
Barcelona didn’t muster their first shot until midway through the opening period when Cristian Tello’s cross was fired back across goal by Rafinha, but Luisao cleared well.
Benfica came agonisingly close after half an hour when Nolito released Lima, who cut in from the left wing and fired a low shot towards the far corner, but Pinto made a great save to turn it onto the post and Carles Planas scrambled away the rebound.
Barcelona then had another let-off when John ran onto a long ball and beat Planas but sent his shot into the side-netting.
The second half started in the same vein as Lima’s right-wing cross found Nolito, who smashed a fierce first-time strike narrowly wide with Pinto rooted to the spot.
Then a 20-yarder from full-back Maxi Pereira warmed Pinto’s hands as the home fans called for the introduction of Messi.
Barca slowly improved as Tello started to become a factor, with the young winger creating a couple of opportunities for David Villa that the frontman couldn’t convert.
Then the wish of the Barca fans to see Messi was granted, but the introduction of the Argentine did little to change the pattern of play as Benfica continued to dictate.
The Portuguese side started to sit back as the game dragged on, perhaps aware from Celtic Park that they only need a draw to advance at that stage.
This allowed Barca to dominate for the first time, although they were restricted to a couple of harmless long-range free-kicks from Messi.
Messi then nearly sent his team ahead after rounding Benfica goalkeeper Artur and curling a shot towards goal, but Artur quickly retreated to grab it on the goalline.
Worryingly for Barca, Messi injured himself in the process and had to be stretchered off with what appeared to be a jarred knee and the obviously worry over damaged ligaments.
Aware that Celtic had scored, Benfica laid siege to the Barca goal in the final few minutes but to no avail as Pereira blazed a great chance over the bar with the last kick of the game.
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