SETTABLOID

What now for Szczesny?

Wojciech Szczęsny had a big part to play in the unforgettable win after being handed a start in goal against Benfica ahead of Inaki Pena. Flick talked him up as a “one of the club’s best signings” ahead of kick-off but it really didn’t look like that in Portugal.

With the scores still at 1-1, and Barca on the front foot after equalising, Szczesny came racing out of his goal and succeeded only in taking out Alejandro Balde and allowing Vangelis Pavlidis the simple task of putting the ball into an empty net.

What. A. Comeback

Barcelona beat Benfica 5-4 in the Champions League on Tuesday in what was the game of the season so far and undoubtedly one of the club’s wildest ever wins.

The match had just about everything: bags of goals, penalties, goalkeeping howlers, bucketloads of rain, the weirdest header Raphinha will ever score, raucous celebrations, and Benfica getting a very public telling off on the pitch from manager Bruno Lage after twice throwing away a two-goal lead.

Hansi Flick admitted he’d never seen anything like it before, while Pau Cubarsi called it the “craziest” game he had ever experienced. It was simply unforgettable stuff.

Barca through but doubts remain

The win sends Barcelona automatically through to the last 16 of the competition, along with Liverpool, which is great news for the club. Teams won’t want to draw either club in the next round but this win did show up Barca’s weaknesses once again.

Flick’s high line was exposed on a regular basis, as Benfica scored four times and looked dangerous almost every time they attacked.

Barca’s offside trap has worked wonderfully well this season (just ask Kylian Mbappe) but is also susceptible to third-man runs and cross-field balls played over the top – something Benfica used to good effect on Tuesday.

It has been a season of transformation for Raphinha at FC Barcelona. From not being favoured and linked with an exit under Xavi Hernandez, to becoming the team captain and talisman under Hansi Flick, the Brazilian winger has come a long way and done so in style.

Last night’s UEFA Champions League encounter against SL Benfica marked another step for the Brazilian towards establishing himself as an icon at the club as he showed again that he is ready to step up as a hero for the team whenever needed.

The winger’s last-gasp goal, to clinch a dramatic 4-5 victory away at Benfica, will remain etched in the memories of fans for a long time to come.

Raphinha on the cusp of matching Vinicius’ best season tally

With his brace against Benfica, Raphinha now totals an impressive 25 goals (22 for Barcelona and 3 for Brazil) and 9 assists this season and we are still in January.

To put his extraordinary returns into perspective, one only needs to look at the numbers of one of the candidates for the last Ballon d’Or – Vinicius Jr. of Real Madrid.

Vinicius finished second in the Ballon d’Or for 2024, losing to Manchester City’s Rodri, after scoring 26 goals (two of them for Brazil) and providing 10 assists (one for Brazil) over the course of the 2023/24 season, playing a total of 45 matches.

With 34 matches played and still many months of the season left, Raphinha is just one goal and one assist away from matching those figures.

This is not in any way meant to diminish what the Real Madrid winger achieved last season, but rather to highlight the spectacular campaign that the Barcelona captain is having.

Raphinha has scored in every competition he has played in (11 in La Liga, eight in the Champions League, one in the Copa del Rey, and two in the Spanish Super Cup) and has assisted in all but the Copa del Rey, where he still has the chance to do so.

FC Barcelona got past Benfica in dramatic fashion last night, pulling off a comeback for the ages. The scoreline ended 5-4 in favor of the Catalan club, with Hansi Flick’s men showing immense mental strength to pull this one back.

Hansi Flick named a starting XI along expected lines for the most part with the only surprise being the German coach starting Wojciech Szczęsny ahead of Iñaki Peña, with the latter being preferred in the Champions League so far this season.

Without a doubt though, this was one decision that backfired royally for the German coach on the night, despite Barcelona’s sensational win. The Polish veteran got absolutely cooked by the Benfica attack, doing no favors to his case to start regularly going forward.

As per stats from SofaScore, Szczęsny made just two saves all game, having an abysmal goals-prevented tally of -1.01. He made one direct error that led to a goal and also conceded a penalty. He also failed to make any punches or high claims.

Just by eye test, it has been very evident that the former Juventus shot-stopper is not a sweeper keeper by any stretch of the imagination. He struggles with everything that Inaki Pena excels at, which really suits this tactical setup.

There were so many times that the 34-year-old came out of his area last night, even apart from the errors, almost always getting his timing wrong and even when kicking out, he often looked rushed and less calmer than his Spanish counterpart.

Barcelona fans might have never thought that this day would come but it is safe to say that they missed Iñaki Peña big time in the Champions League last night. It might also be safe to say that it is unlikely that the 25-year-old won’t get a start against Atalanta next week.

A late goal from Raphinha sealed a 5-4 win for Barcelona over Benfica in a nine-goal thriller in UEFA Champions League matchday seven Tuesday.

Benfica opened the scoring in the second minute when Vangelis Pavlidis found the net with a close-range finish, assisted by Alvaro Carreras at Estadio do SL Benfica.

Robert Lewandowski equalized for the opposition by converting a penalty kick in the 13th minute.

Benfica regained the lead as Pavlidis completed his hat-trick with goals in the 22nd and 30th minutes, the latter coming from a penalty, extending their advantage.

In the 64th minute, Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin’s attempted clearance struck Raphinha on the head and rebounded into the net from outside the box, making it 3-2.

Benfica doubled the lead after Ronald Araujo scored an own goal in the 68th minute, but Lewandowski converted the penalty again to make it 4-3 in the 78th minute.

Barca equalized the game when Eric Garcia scored with a header in the 86th minute.

Rafinha put the ball into Benfica’s net on a counterattack in the 96th minute — the winning goal.

With the result, Barcelona are second with 18 points and Benfica are 18th with 10 points.

FC Barcelona fans went through a roller coaster of a match last night as they saw their team go down to 3-1 in the first half in their UEFA Champions League game against Benfica. However, the Catalans came into the second half with renewed spirits and ended up pulling off an amazing comeback win with the final scoreline standing at 5-4.

Naturally, Hansi Flick was quite happy with this win, as it confirmed his team’s direct qualification to the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League with a game to spare in the League Phase.

With this incredible win, Barcelona have ensured their qualification to the next round of the competition, thus meeting one of their main objectives.

But they still need to recover their form in La Liga where they have quite a lot of space to recover to get back into the competition with Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid

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.