Raphinha scored a winning goal of expiration and arguable as Barcelona came back to win a remarkable 5-4 adjustment against Benfica and qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League.
The last-minute goal was allowed to stand despite Benfica claiming they should have had a penalty moments before as Barca took all three points.
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In one match, the first half had almost everything, with an early Benfica purpose cancelled via a penalty via Robert Lewandowski before Wojciech Szczesny arrived at the party.
First, the 34-year-old goalkeeper hit his own player, Alejandro Balde, leaving Vangelis Pavlidis loose to take his moment before the post, and then admitted a penalty that allowed Pavlidis to beg his hat-trick.
The second half had a go at competing with the first and brought an odd finish from Raphinha, an own goal from Ronald Araujo and a second penalty from Lewandowski. Eric Garcia added a late equaliser before Raphinha’s winner.
Jack Lang and Mark Carey break down the action from a ridiculous encounter at Estadio da Luz.
This fits ridiculously in 700 other ways, yet the final act took the cookie.
Benfica had a lazy shot, in the middle of the discount, the torrential rain, the degrees of power touching zero. Ángel Di María turned it in the Benfica area, an omnipotent race.
Nicolas Otamendi idea that he has had a penalty when he was tangled up with Gerard Martin, but nothing worked. But when Leandro Barreiro arrived here a moment later, questioned through Fermin Lopez, it seemed inevitable that referee Danny Makkelie’s whistle would blow. This is not the case. While Benfica’s players are protesting wildly, to the side and to the sidelines, Ferran Torres has hacked a long ball towards Raphinha. The Brazilian still had a lot to do, but he dodged his inner boy to break a dizzying purpose at home and laugh and laugh.
Benfica continued to protest, waiting for a VAR intervention. But it never came. That’s pretty much the only thing this game didn’t have.
Jack Lang
Alejandro Balde twisted on the ground, tense but also, presumably, deeply confused. It was not the only one. Nine of his Barcelona companions stayed there, making grimaces and grimaces. In the period of approximately 3 seconds, an attack that had been under control was simply dissolved before his eyes, leaving a scene of absolute devastation.
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I didn’t want a Ph. D. in frame language to localize what everyone was thinking. What just happened?
The answer? Szczesny had acted.
Let’s go back a bit here: at the beginning of October, when Szczesny made an unforeseen return to the top of European football. The former Arsenal and Juventus passenger retired at the end of the 2023-24 season, when he was just 34 years old. But when Barcelona lost first-choice goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen to a serious injury, they managed to convince Szczesny to take part in one last big game. work, heist movie style.
For the maximum of the season, that task has consisted of sitting on the bench and watching Iñaki Peña, Barça’s other goalkeeper, produce his credentials. Szczesny gave him a charity that starts in the Copa del Rey before Christmas, then played in the Spanish Super Cup, partly because Pena had upset manager Hansi with poor timing. The Pole’s red card in the 5-2 win over Real Madrid, however, gave the impression to put Pena back at the maximum sensible of the pecking order.
There were a few eyebrows raised, then, when Szczesny got the nod on Tuesday night. And within half an hour, the logic of the decision had been fractured into tiny little pieces on the Estadio da Luz turf…
The score was 1-1 when Nicolas Otamendi pinged a long diagonal pass into the space behind Balde and Pau Cubarsi…
It was a pretty decent ball, but the defenders seemed to have the scenario under control. But then came Szczesny, a green streak, off target—miles from his target, years away, missing for so long that his target’s citizens had deemed him dead—and straight to Balde. BLOW.
It was a startling impact, the kind that initially made it hard to appreciate the obvious comic value of what had just occurred. Both men were laid out long after Pavlidis had run the ball into an empty net, giving Benfica a lead they would only relinquish in the dying stages.
In the end, they both gave up and played. Szczesny’s bruised ego, however, had to suffer a heavy blow moments later, when he disappointed Kerem Akturkoglu and conceded a penalty.
A score night, therefore for Barcelona and for the film. He imagines that Szczesny had spent more due to those two demanding situations that was not in any meeting.
Szczesny regained some pride in the last minute, deftly saving Di Maria with the score at 4-4, but you can believe that Flick will think very conscientiously about his starting position in the coming games.
Jack Lang
Not a week goes by without a team or some other negotiation looking to play the ball from the back, conceding a goal that, twenty years ago, would have made others laugh and/or twist their hands for weeks. Football changes. Strange, give me resolutions? Yes, of course, we will take them.
Still, it’s great to get some new diversifications on the subject. Prior to Tuesday night, I’d never noticed a passalkeeper hit a ball directly into an attacker’s eyebrow and watched the ball go back into the net.
Now, thanks to Anatolii Trubin and Raphinha, I have. Thanks!
Jack Lang
The approach to unlock the Barcelona team from Flick? Seek to exhibit their top line.
This is not new data at this time. Flick’s technique has largely been fortunate this season, however many clubs (including those in the Champions League) have discovered good fortune thanks to deep third man runs and timely diagonals. to avoid Barcelona’s offside trap.
Within three minutes, Benfica did exactly that. A diagonal ball from Tomas Araujo found Alvaro Carreras in oceans of space to cross first time for Pavlidis to finish.
While Benfica’s second goal looked more calamitous from a Barcelona perspective — as Szczesny skewered team-mate Balde after a communication breakdown — the credit must also go to Benfica, who skewered Barcelona’s back line with the ball played over the top.
It was painfully simple at times. When there is little pressure on the ball with space to exploit in behind, such looped passes are not only enticing but actually straightforward to play at the elite level. The fact that 22 per cent of Benfica’s passes were long — comfortably their highest rate in the Champions League this season — shows just how much they accepted Barcelona’s offer to play more directly.
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Despite such a late, dramatic loss in the pouring rain, Benfica’s attacking approach did ask questions of Barcelona’s back line. Flick will be aware of the fallibility of such an approach in the knockout stages.
Marc Carey
Few would have batted an eyelid at the fact that a young Spanish star had put in a remarkable performance in Barcelona’s clash against Benfica.
The most shocking revelation made by the player in question, the left side of Benfica, Álvaro Carreras. The 21 -year -old progresses perfectly, hugging the band line to reach the opposite area to the narrow bottom line of Barcelona, providing generous centers for his teammates to attack.
A decisive pass for Pavlidis set the tone, followed temporarily by a delightful Sillée cross for Fredrik Aursnes in the early stages. Even his interception on foot before the catalyst for Benfica’s third goal, which saw Kerem Akturkoglu win the penalty after Szczesny’s miss (see above).
Defensively, Carreras was tasked with keeping the prodigious lamine Yamal quiet, and he accomplished his task very well for long periods of time. With his head constantly turning to check where the teenager was positioned, Carreras was strong, fast and competitive at all times. The only knock on his record was conceding a penalty, a soft one, to Yamal in the closing stages as the game descended into another chaos.
The irony of Carreras will not escape Manchester United fans. The 21-year-old spent 4 years at the club before leaving in 2024, on loan to Preston North End, Granada and Benfica. Considering that Rubén Amorim lacks an athletic left-back to match his style, hearing that he already had a player of Carreras’ profile on the books a few months after his arrival only adds salt to the injuries. .
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Throw in the fact that Carreras was schooled in the youth ranks of Barcelona’s bitter rivals, Real Madrid, and Tuesday’s performance would have been a special one for the 21-year-old — even if his side didn’t secure the victory.
Mark Carey
Sunday, Jan. 26: Valencia (H), La Liga, 8 p. m. GMT, 3 p. m. m. ET