Hundreds Of Liverpool Fans Miss First Goal Against Benfica Amid Heavy Police Presence

Liverpool fans will have left Benfica's Estadio da Luz very happy with their 3-1 victory.

But many of those fans only saw two of their team's three goals after being held up on their way into the stadium.

Pictures shared on social media showed that there was a heavy police presence outside the venue before kick-off.

Police officers wearing protective riot gear were on the scene tasked with crowd control, although there is no suggestion of any public disorder.

The problems encountered by the police were largely logistical, according to witnesses.

On fan, Phil Blundell tweeted: "Ground hasn't got turnstiles so they're kettling groups and letting them in through a gate a few hundred at a time, disgrace."

Journalist Simon Hughes shared a photo from outside the stadium and captioned it: "Scene outside the ground in Lisbon. No organisation."

He added: "Not even that many people behind me.

"Process seems to be holding everyone back with no filtering system while adding more police, dressed like paramilitaries. Game about to kick off and we’ll miss it."

Another journalist among the Liverpool fans, Adam Doyle, tweeted a photo from a similar position.

Doyle captioned his photo: "Ridiculous outside the stadium in Benfica as the police are holding the Liverpool fans up 10 minutes to kick off…"

Liverpool took the lead after 17 minutes when Ibrahima Konate headed in his first goal for the club.

Konate celebrated in front of the Liverpool section of supporters, where there was a lot of empty seats.

That section was pretty full by the time Sadio Mane made it 2-0 just after the half-hour mark.

Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz added goals in the second half.

SEE ALSO: Benfica Fan Throws Large Stick At Luis Diaz As Liverpool Forward Celebrates UCL Goal

As Liverpool fans left the stadium, they had to walk past a crowd of more than 1,000 home supporters who were being kept back by police.

A general view from outside the Estadio da Luz before Benfica vs Liverpool

IMAGO/Focus Images/Diogo Silva