Barcelona staged an extraordinary and controversial late comeback to beat Benfica 5-4 in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
A shot from Raphinha in the 96th minute decided the Catalans, with Benfica furious because they believed they should have had a penalty at the other end, just before the Brazilian stormed the pitch and scored the winning goal.
The opening phase was the epitome of the duality of the Spanish heavyweights: Vangelis Pavlidis was able to break the stalemate thanks to lax defending before Robert Lewandowski equalized with a confident penalty.
But there was no nuance to Wojciech Szczesny’s performance at the Estadio da Luz, with the Polish goalkeeper enduring a dismal first half hour. A disastrous collision with Barcelona left-back Alejandro Balde gave Pavlidis his second goal of the game before Szczesny gifted Benfica the penalty that secured the Greek striker’s hat-trick.
Barcelona reduced the deficit after the hour with an unconventional attempt when Raphinha parried Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin’s errant pass past the Ukrainian from outside the penalty area.
Barcelona’s comeback hopes appeared to be short-lived as Benfica restored their two-goal lead when Ronald Araujo shot into his own goal after Andreas Schjelderup’s cross hit the post, while another individual error proved costly for the visitors .
But Benfica were there and gave Barcelona another way back into the game when Alvaro Carreras conceded the home side’s second penalty of the night. Lewandowski, who had converted from the penalty spot in the first half, made no mistake and secured his brace after sending Trubin the wrong way.
Barcelona eventually secured a dramatic equalizer by putting pressure on the hosts. Eric Garcia headed home in the 86th minute to save them blushes, but there was still time for more drama in Portugal.
Leandro Barreiro appeared to have been pushed into the penalty area in stoppage time before Raphinha burst up the other end of the pitch to give Barcelona the lead for the first time in the game, but referee Danny Makkelie and VAR were unfazed as the visitors scored a controversial one and sure shot achieved a breathtaking victory.
*Reviews provided by FotMob*
player | Evaluation |
|---|---|
GK: Anatoliy Trubin | 3.6/10 |
RB: Tomas Araujo | 5.6/10 |
CB: Antonio Silva | 5.4/10 |
CB: Nicolas Otamendi | 6.2/10 |
LB: Alvaro Carreras | 7.0/10 |
CM: Fredrik Aursnes | 6.6/10 |
CM: Florentino Luis | 7.3/10 |
CM: Orkun Kokcu | 6.6/10 |
RW: Kerem Akturkoglu | 7.4/10 |
ST: Vangelis Pavlidis | 9.4/10 |
LW: Andreas Schjelderup | 6.9/10 |
SUB: Leandro Barreiro (61′ for Aursnes) | 6.1/10 |
SUB: Angel Di Maria (71st minute for Schjelderup) | 6.2/10 |
SUB: Alexander Bah (71st minute for Akturkoglu) | 6.2/10 |
SUB: Benjamin Rollheiser (80th minute for Kokcu) | 6.0/10 |
SUB: Zeki Amdouni (80th for Pavlidis) | 6.3/10 |
Substitutes not used: Samuel Soares (TW), Adrian Bajrami, Gianluca Prestianni, Joao Rego, Nuno Felix, Arthur Cabral, Jan-Niklas Beste.
*Reviews provided by FotMob*
player | Evaluation |
|---|---|
GK: Wojciech Szczesny | 5.5/10 |
RB: Jules Kounde | 6.1/10 |
CB: Ronald Araujo | 6.0/10 |
CB: Pau Cubarsi | 6.7/10 |
LB: Alejandro Balde | 7.1/10 |
CM: Gavi | 6.5/10 |
CM: Marc Casado | 7.3/10 |
CM: Pedri | 8.2/10 |
RW: Lamine Yamal | 8.0/10 |
ST: Robert Lewandowski | 8.8/10 |
LW: Raphinha | 9.3/10 |
SUB: Frenkie de Jong (62′ for Casado) | 6.3/10 |
SUB: Fermin Lopez (62′ for Gavi) | 6.4/10 |
SUB: Eric Garcia (74′ for Kounde) | 7.5/10 |
SUB: Ferran Torres (74th for Balde) | 7.2/10 |
SUB: Gerard Martin (90th + 2 for Jamal) | N/A |
Substitutes not used: Diego Kochen (TW), Inaki Pena (TW), Hector Fort, Andreas Christensen, Pablo Torre, Ansu Fati, Pau Victor.