benfica began november with a home match against to villarreal. benfica were hoping to win and take the lead in group d but were defeated 1-0 with a winning goal for villarreal in the 81th minute through a strike from marcos senna. despite the loss, koeman remained confident in the qualification for the knockout stage; he said, "it is a very balanced group. we are missing four points to progress." on 6 november, benfica played rio ave at home. the match was unusually competitive, with benfica trailing twice and avoiding defeat with two free kicks from petit. koeman took the blame but criticized the referee's assistant for making several mistakes against benfica. after a third international break, benfica visited the municipal de braga on 19 november to play braga. benfica scored first through anderson but could not prevent the comeback of braga, first through césinha and then julio bevacqua. benfica responded with a nuno gomes goal in the 92nd minute, but bevacqua gave the win to braga three minutes later. it was benfica's fourth consecutive winless game, the worst spell of the season. three days later, benfica played lille on the road for match-day five of the group stage. koeman surprised with a highly defensive team composed of four centre-backs in the back-four, two defensive midfielders, two fullbacks playing in the midfield and only two offensive players, miccoli and nuno gomes. the match ended 0–0, achieving koeman's goal of securing a point. for the final game of the month, benfica received belenenses on 27 november. they were unable to beat belenenses' keeper, dropping two points in a 0–0 draw and extending their winless run to six matches, the longest dry spell since 2001–02.