Hansi Flick praised Barcelona's mentality in their “incredible” 5-4 comeback win over Benfica in the Champions League on Tuesday.
The result sealed their place in the last 16, but they were forced to pull off a monumental turnaround after Vangelis Pavlidis' hat-trick left the Blaugrana 3-1 at half-time.
Raphinha reduced the deficit just after the hour mark to give Barcelona hope, but Ronald Araujo's own goal four minutes later appeared to put the result beyond the visitors.
However, Robert Lewandowski, who scored a penalty in the first half, scored his second penalty twelve minutes from time, a goal that sparked the dramatic turnaround.
Eric Garcia then leveled the match before Raphinha grabbed his brace in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time to seal a huge three points for Flick's side.
“It was a very crazy game. The most positive thing was the mentality we had. We came back and that's great. That's football and that's why we love it,” said Flick.
“I don't think I've ever seen a comeback like that. It's unbelievable. We didn't play very well in the first half. They are very good and scored first.”
“They made us defend very deep. We were not in the right position. We were better in the second half and substitutions helped us a lot.”
The match at the Estadio da Luz was the first in Champions League history to end 5–4, with Barcelona becoming only the second side in the competition's history to win a match despite scoring four or more goals (Borussia Dortmund 8 -4 Legia Warsaw in November 2016).
Wojciech Szczesny's performance also came under scrutiny after the match after he made mistakes that led to two Benfica goals in the opening 45 minutes.
Szczesny came out first to claim a long kick forward and clattered into Alejandro Balde, allowing Pavlidis to grab the ball and roll it into an empty net.
The Polish goalkeeper then fouled Kerem Akturkoglu in the penalty area after running off his line, with Pavlidis completing his hat-trick from the resulting penalty.
However, Flick defended Szczesny, insisting the 34-year-old improved after the break and arguably kept his side in the match.
“Which player doesn't make mistakes? It's normal. Szczesny made some mistakes, but all the players made mistakes in the first half,” Flick said.
“We win together, we lose together. We are a team. I liked what I saw in the second half, he saved a clear chance for Benfica.”
Despite the admiration for the victory, Flick urged his players to turn their attention to their next LaLiga match, which takes place against Valencia at Camp Nou on Sunday.
Barcelona drew 1–1 with Getafe in their last league match, leaving them third in the standings and seven points behind rivals Real Madrid at the summit.
“The wins give us time to continue to believe in this project and send the message to the young players that we can and want to improve,” he said.
“It is very important to concentrate on the match against Valencia and we also want to beat Atalanta. We don't have to think that we are comfortable.”
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