During a wild match in Da Luz, Szczesny's blunders complicated matters, but Raphinha's late heroics secured Barcelona's place in the next round.
Barcelona became the second team to advance to the Champions League Round of 16 after winning a wild match against Benfica, where they had to come back from 3-1 and 4-2 deficits to eventually win 5-4 in stoppage time, on a manner reminiscent of Real Madrid. The match was inexplicable, with Raphinha emerging in the final twenty sensational minutes to counter Szczesny's blunders.
As expected at the press conference before Flick's match on Monday, Szczesny took over the goalkeeping duties from Iñaki Peña. The rest of the team remained the same as in their big games, with Benfica's Di María starting on the bench.
Flick's decision to change goalkeeper was as incomprehensible as it was disastrous. The German coach made a baffling choice that, given the Polish goalkeeper's track record, was completely unjustified. In Barbastro, Szczesny was a spectator; against Athletic he caused a few scares with his exits; and against Madrid he was sent off for another reckless play. Maybe Flick sees something special in training, but the Polish goalkeeper felt like he had the enemy inside him: Flick really outdid himself with the decision.
Szczesny's nightmare gives Benfica the advantage
Just two minutes into the match, Szczesny made his first intervention, picking the ball out of the net after Álvaro Carreras previewed his performance by crossing to Pavlidis, who will probably treat Szczesny to dinner one day, to score the first to score. goal.
Barcelona recovered gradually, more with heart than head, as evidenced by the team's reliance on Balde's drive rather than Pedri's composure. Lamine, meanwhile, was only notable for his flashy backheels for YouTube and a collection of losing games against Carreras, which destroyed him in the first half like no other defender had ever done.
Thanks to Balde, Barcelona managed to equalize with a penalty on the Blaugrana left back, which Lewandowski converted. It looked like the early gap had closed and Barcelona started to dominate Benfica.
But the Portuguese side found in Szczesny the clumsy recruit capable of undermining any strategy. Ten minutes after the equalizer, and just when Benfica was struggling the most, the goalkeeper made an inexplicable run out of the goal (you could say he went for a smoke) and eliminated Balde, who had already controlled the ball . Pavlidis was presented with a goal on a silver platter. But things could get worse: five minutes later, with Barcelona in disarray, Szczesny charged like a bull at a Portuguese forward and conceded a penalty that, while questionable in the assessment, was clear in real time. Pavlidis stepped up again and completed a hat-trick: the Greek, who had scored only one goal in his last twelve matches, was living a dream.
Great comeback from Barcelona
Barcelona, in disarray, tried to make a comeback before half time. There were chances, because Benfica's defense was a mess. But neither Lamine nor Raphinha could score when they were alone in front of the home goal.
The second half coincided with a storm of rain, lightning and thunder, which did not help Barcelona as they continued to miss their chances. Flick brought in Fermín and De Jong, hoping for a miracle under the rain, with Pedri taking charge of operations.
It seemed under control for the home team, but out of solidarity with the goalkeepers, Trubyn decided to spice things up a bit. He kicked the ball straight to Raphinha's head, making it 3-2. Araújo scored an own goal a minute later, showing that Barcelona were shaky with the Polish goalkeeper at the back.
Then came the madness led by the phenomenal Raphinha. With Barcelona losing, Lamine forced a penalty which Lewandowski converted. With the match hanging by a thread, Eric equalized four minutes before the end with a header from a corner, and in injury time Raphinha made a memorable point to make it 4-5. Something that many in Europe had only seen Real Madrid do before. This Barcelona has a love affair with the Champions League.
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