After missing two seasons of European football for the first time since 1960, Benfica returned to UEFA competition in 2003–04. They entered that season's Champions League in the third qualifying round, but defeats against Lazio demoted them to the UEFA Cup. There, the team reached the fourth round, where they were eliminated by Inter Milan with a 4–3 away loss. After another season without playing in the Champions League, Benfica returned to UEFA's main competition in 2005–06, where they achieved their best performance in eleven years. Benfica knocked Manchester United out of the competition in the group stage and eliminated the title holders Liverpool in the subsequent round, grabbing the club's first-ever win at Liverpool. In the quarter-finals, Benfica were eliminated by Barcelona after losing 2–0 at Camp Nou. The next two seasons were fairly similar: in 2006–07 and 2007–08, Benfica finished third in the group stage and were demoted to the UEFA Cup, failing to go further than the quarter-finals. Note: Benfica score is always listed first. In 2009–10, Benfica had a noteworthy run in the newly created UEFA Europa League, progressing all the way from the play-off round to the quarter-finals. Their campaign featured a 5–0 thrashing of English side Everton in the group stage and an aggregate 3–2 defeat of Marseille in the round of 16, with an injury-time goal from Alan Kardec. Bringing a 2–1 home advantage from the first leg of the quarter-finals against Liverpool, Benfica manager Jorge Jesus made a surprising change for the second leg at Anfield, putting centre-back David Luiz as left-back; the team eventually lost the match 4–1 and were eliminated. The following season, Benfica returned to the Champions League, but as in 2006–07 and 2007–08 they were demoted to the Europa League. This time, however, the team overcame the quarter-final stage to reach their first European semi-final in 17 years. In the first European match ever between Portuguese teams, Benfica were surprised by Braga and missed the chance to qualify to the final. For the 2011–12 season, Benfica strengthened their squad with Axel Witsel and improved their performance in the Champions League, progressing all the way to the quarter-finals. In the group stage, Benfica topped their group – knocking Manchester United out of European competitions once again – and defeated Zenit Saint Petersbourg in the last 16 before losing 3–1 on aggregate to Chelsea.