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Benfica hope as Barca fire blanks

LISBON, Portugal -- Barcelona created enough chances away to Benfica on Tuesday to already have at least one foot in the semifinals of the Champions League.

But Frank Rijkaard's team squandered all 10 of their clear opportunities, thus allowing relieved Portuguese giants Benfica to get off the hook with a 0-0 draw.

"Football is sometimes like this," said Barca strike Samuel Eto'o. "We played really well but wasted far too many chances tonight...we should really have eliminated them already."

And midfielder Deco moaned "We were very sluggish in front of goal. We will need to be much sharper in the return leg."

Benfica winger Geovanni said that "this is not really a bad result for us...I really think we're capable of winning in Barcelona, as we did in Liverpool."

Team-mate Simao, for his part, complained about "the really clear penalty" not given to Benfica at the end, for handball by Barca defender Thiago Motta.

Deco was another culprit and warned Barca must be sharper in the return

In front of a capacity crowd in the Estadio da Luz, Barcelona dominated until the last 20 minutes, with 57 per cent possession. The only thing the visitors lacked was a cool finish.

Deco, Mark Van Bommel and Eto'o all missed clear chances in the first half.

After the interval, Henrik Larsson and Motta hit the Benfica woodwork, and Benfica keeper Luis Moretto continued to work hard.

Barca ran out of steam in the last 20 minutes and Benfica should have had a penalty for Motta's handball.

Just 12 minutes from time Victor Valdes pulled off an important save from Simao, as the hosts finally came out of their shell and put the Catalan defense under pressure.

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