SETTABLOID

A leading member of the attacking ranks at La Liga giants Barcelona has on Tuesday again seen his name linked with the Ballon d’Or.

This comes owing to developments in Barcelona’s meeting with Benfica.

Hansi Flick’s troops are of course fresh off the most remarkable of comeback victories.

After looking dead and buried in a two-goal hole during the 2nd-half of a Champions League showdown with Portuguese heavyweights Benfica, the Blaugrana rose from the ashes in spectacular fashion.

First, Robert Lewandowski pulled one back from the penalty spot, before Eric García levelled things up inside the final five minutes.

And there was still time for one final twist in the tale, as Raphinha broke free deep into injury-time, to dance his way inside before slotting home a fine finish.

This came as the Brazilian’s 2nd of the night, amid yet another standout performance in what has been nothing short of a sensational individual campaign.

FC Barcelona beat Benfica 5-4 in a nine goal Champions League thriller where the Catalans completed a comeback for the ages to stay second in the elite European competition’s league phase.

Hansi Flick’s men went 1-0 down in under two minutes at the Estadio da Luz with Vangelis Pavlidis capitalising on slack defending.

Robert Lewandowski pulled one back with a 13th minute penalty, but the Greek striker on the other side of the ball completed his hat trick in just over half an hour meaning that Barca trailed 3-1 at the interval.

Raphinha scored his first of evening when heading a ball back into the net from a poor kick out by Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin.

Yet when Ronald Araujo scored past his own shotstopper and Barca trailed 4-2 and by a two-goal margin all seemed lost.

The Blaugrana had other ideas, though, and embarked on remontada for the ages.

Another Lewandowski spot kick reduced the advantage, before Eric Garcia latched onto a Pedri cross to finally equalize.

Deep into stoppage time, a Raphinha in form of his life ran with everything he add on a counter attack and cooly cut inside to smash home and give his team a victory to remember.

Barcelona dishes out one of their worst halves of football after the opening whistle at Estadio da Luz last night.

Benfica went ahead early with the first goal early on the night, but that was the only normal goal for over the next hour.

Barcelona equalised through a penalty before Wojciech Szczesny collided with Alejandro Balde to gift Benfica an open goal. The Polish goalkeeper then gave away a penalty to hand the hosts a 3-1 lead.

Barcelona then pulled one back after the hosts’ goalkeeper erred and forced a goal off Raphinha’s head but Ronald Araujo continued a comedy of errors with an own goal to make it 4-2 in the hosts’ favour.

Lewandowski, however, pulled one back from the penalty spot once more after Yamal won a penalty. Eric Garcia scored a late equalizer and Raphinha closed the game out with a late strike on a counter-attack to gift his side the win.

Barça Universal brings you the player ratings from Benfica 4-5 Barcelona.

We are merely hours away from Barcelona’s seventh UCL league stage game against SL Benfica.

After a disappointing outing against Getafe over the weekend, the Catalans will be keen on getting back to winning ways.

Hansi Flick is unlikely to tinker much with the team and will hope that the existing set of players perform to their potential against the Eagles.

That said, a recent report from Polish news outlet Meczyki claims with certainty that Flick could make a big change in the goalkeeper position.

As per the report, Wojciech Szczesny will start ahead of Inaki Pena in goal tonight, as part of his plans to rotate the goalkeeper position between La Liga and the UEFA Champions League.

Szczesny, who returned from retirement to join Barcelona following the injury of Marc-Andre ter Stegen, has featured thrice for Barça this season.

The Pole notably featured in both the Super Cup matches and has kept one clean sheet while conceding two goals.

Now, Szczesny will have the opportunity to showcase his goalkeeping prowess in the UEFA Champions League – a tournament he is quite familiar with.

The veteran goalkeeper has featured in 68 Champions League matches throughout his career. His last match in the UCL came in November 2022, when he played for Juventus against Paris Saint-Germain.

Szczesny conceded two goals in that game from Nuno Mendes and Kylian Mbappe, as Juventus lost the game 2-1.

Gerard Martin has been one of the youngsters who has had a breakthrough season at FC Barcelona in the current campaign under Hansi Flick.

Having arrived in 2023, the left-back played for Barça Atletic in his debut season but was given a chance by Flick during the pre-season camp in the summer, from which point he has not looked back.

The 22-year-old defender has cemented his place as the understudy to Alejandro Balde, earning the manager’s full trust, even though his performances have, at times, been below the level needed.

Contract renewal this week

Either way, Barcelona have been working on renewing Martin’s contract, which expires in the summer later this year.

An agreement over a new deal has been in place for some time now and now reports that the 22-year-old left-back will sign the contract this week and make it official.

Tottenham’s quest to sign a talented forward from Barcelona could get complicated, with a report revealing his desires after learning that his club want to get rid of him, while head coach Hansi Flick has made clear in public his thoughts on the matter.

As  transfer correspondent Fraser Fletcher has been reporting this month, Tottenham are keen on signing a new striker in the January transfer window. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy still believes that Spurs could have a successful season and is ready to help head coach Ange Postecoglou in the second half of the campaign, with the team just eight points above the Premier League relegation zone right now.

Tottenham were keen on a deal for Randal Kolo Muani with Levy personally trying to make it happen, but the Paris Saint-Germain forward is now on the verge of moving to Juventus on loan for the rest of the season.

Another forward that Spurs are monitoring is Ansu Fati. Reports in Spain last week claimed that Tottenham have already made an offer for the forward, who had a loan spell at Brighton and Hove Albion from Barcelona last season.

West Ham United are also reportedly keen on Fati and have made a bid too, with Besiktas claimed to be showing interest in the 22-year-old as well.

Sport has now reported that Barcelona have made up their mind to severe ties with Fati in the January transfer window.

While the LaLiga giants are not going to force the forward to leave, they will try to come to an agreement with him and his agent.

Barcelona respect that Fati has come through La Masia to become a first-team player, so they will not push him to leave, but they have made it clear to the forward that he is not in their plans.

Sport has also reported what Fati wants to do. According to the Spanish publication, the forward does not want to leave Barcelona in January.

Once described as “magic” by his Barcelona teammate Eric Garcia, Fati has always wanted to become a success at the Catalan club, and he has not changed his mind at all.