Benfica-4-5 Barcelona: thunder, lightning and goals galore in a Lisbon classic | OneFootball

An incredible night of Champions League football ended in bitter disappointment for Benfica as Barcelona came from 4-2 down to win 5-4 at the Estádio da Luz.

Benfica looked in control at half time thanks to a Vangelis Pavlidis hat-trick, countered by a Lewandowski penalty, giving the Eagles a 3-1 lead. The Eagles’ sparkling performance in the opening 45 minutes was fuelled by an out-of-this-world display by left-back Andreas Carreras.

Barça came out strong in the second half but Benfica held out until a crass mistake by Anatoliy Trubin allowed Raphinha to make it 3-2, but soon afterwards a Ronaldo Araújo own goal restored Benfica’s two-goal cushion.

Barcelona were again given hope when a Carreras foul committed against Yamal allowed Lewandowski to score his second penalty of the night and the Spaniards were celebrating wildly when Eric Garcia headed in the equaliser in the 86th minute.

There was still time for more drama as substitute Ángel Di María missed when clean through. In the final seconds of stoppage time Barreiro went down in the box but amid louds shouts for a penalty Barça broke up field and Raphinha finished brilliantly to give the visitors a remarkable 5-4 victory, the furious protests from Benfica’s players and coaching staff ignored by the referee.

José Ricardo Leite & Tom Kundert report from the Estádio da Luz.

The tactical battle

Bruno Lage surprised everyone by playing Arkturkoglu instead of Di María. And even though Barreiro scored a hat-trick against Famalicão, he gave up his place in the starting eleven to Aursnes.

Lage settled a web for Barcelona to play around when they had possession. With a very compromised pair of wingers such as Schjelderup and Arkturkoglu dropping back to help their full backs get the better of players like Yamal and Raphinha, as well as a hard press on the Barcelona’s midfielders made it very difficult for the Blaugrana to play inside and between the lines.

However, it is Hansi Flick’s way of pressing that is the most amazing. The centre backs pressing on the wingers, the wingers pressing on Benfica’s centre back, Lewandowski pressing the keeper. There is no way that Benfica can play organised from the back.

Carreras shines

The night is for Álvaro Carreras. A very solid performance defensively, but what stands out is his offensive performance. Outstanding dribbling skills, passing out of this world and a read of play that makes the best midfielders in the world jealous. Be reminded that Man United still has a preference on transfer… Amorim, are you watching this?

Barcelona’s players felt a lot the third goal. The “gegenpressing” played by Flick needs to be perfectly coordinated, otherwise they suffer a lot. As we approached the half time whistle, Barcelona were feeling more and more uncomfortable not only in attack, but especially when they were pressing.

In the second half, Bruno Lage dropped back his team and left Barcelona with the ball. Directly from Mourinho’s school against Barcelona: park the bus and play on the counter attack! It doesn’t take much to pass by the Barcelona pressing… three or four touches with real chemistry and Benfica were able to create danger near Blaugrana’s goal.

Benfica win tactics, Barça win the match

Bruno Lage understood perfectly what the key of the game was: very sharp quick attacks with very few touches were enough to get past Barcelona. And with a desperate hot-headed Barcelona, everything was easier to the Eagles.

However, Barcelona ended up playing with their hearts. The tactical game was won, but the match was lost.

Blow by blow account of the manic Benfica 4-5 Barcelona match

2’ Benfica GOAL!!! Great switch of play from right to left by Tomás Araújo, Carreras progresses forward and crosses for Pavlidis to produce a lethal finish.

5’ Carreras robs Lamine Yamal, speeds up wing, crosses perfectly for Fredrik Aursnes, who shoots wide from 10 yards out.

9’ Robert Lewandowski spins and shoots over bar

12’ Barcelona GOAL!!! Alejandro Baldé goes down in the Benfica box after a challenge by Araújo, the referee initially signals for a corner, but after VAR check awards a penalty. Lewandowski scores.

20’ Sloppy Benfica defending gives Gavi the chance to score, but his acrobatic effort is brilliantly saved by Trubin.

22’ Benfica GOAL!!! Otamendi lofts a long ball forward, a mix-up between Baldé and Szczesny lead to a tremendous clash flooring both players, leaving Pavlidis with a clear route to goal 35 yards out and he walks the ball into the empty net.

30’ Benfica GOAL!!! Arkturkoglu goes head over two after touching the ball past Szczesny. Penalty says the referee. Pavlidis, who has been criticised for his lack of goals since signing for Benfica, steps up to complete a hat-trick in 30 minutes!

45’ Kökçu mistake, Barcelona work the ball to Raphinha who side-foots inviting opportunity wide.

HALF TIME: Benfica 3-1 Barcelona

49’ Brilliant Pedri pass, sets it up on a plate for Jules Koundé but the defender miss-kicks his volley and Trubin saves.

51’ Benfica break, cross-field pass to Kökçu, ball falls to Pavlidis in the box but his effort is deflected wide. From the resulting corner Aursnes shoots, Szczesny saves.

53’ Fantastic Schjelderup throughball, Aursnes with just the goalkeeper to beat is denied by a last-ditch interception from retreating defender.

65’ Barcelona GOAL!!! It’s a horrendous Trubin mistake, as the Ukrainian goalkeeper kicks the ball straight at Raphinha who almost inadvertently heads the ball into the net from all of 25 yards out.

68’ Benfica GOAL!!! The hosts quickly restore their two-goal lead. Schjelderup’s quick feet on the left wing take him to the byline, and his cross is turned into his own net by Barça captain, Ronaldo Araújo.

77’ Barcelona GOAL!!! Carreras adjusted to have brought down Yamal, penalty! Lewandowki scores.

86’ Barcelona GOAL!!! A sumptuous Pedri cross is headed in by substitute Eric García and it’s pandemonium as Barcelona’s players and staff running off the bench wildly celebrate the late equaliser.

89’ Substitute Di Maria is played clean through. Bearing down on goal with just Szczesny to beat over 63,000 in the stadium hold their breath and…. the Polish goalkeeper wins the battle!

90’ Dangerous free kick for Barcelona, 20 yards out. Raphinha steps up and shoots just over.

90+6’ Benfica desperately close to a goal as a scramble sees the ball edge ever closer to Szczesny’s net and Leandro Barreiro appears to be pushed over as he is about to shoot from point-blank range. Barça hack the ball clear and suddenly Raphinha is motoring forward. He cuts inside the Benfica boss and scores for Barcelona’s fifth GOAL!!!

But it’s high tension as Benfica furiously remonstrate with the referee to check the penalty incident at the start of the play. They feel sure it should be a spot kick to the home side and the goal disallowed (as happened in Gil Vicente’s victory over FC Porto on Sunday).

But the referee waves away the vehement protests. Benfica kick off and the referee immediately whistles for full time, and is summarily showered with every Portuguese invective known to man.

Full time: Benfica 4-5 Barcelona

Benfica: Trubin; Tomás Araújo, António Silva, Nico Otamendi, Álvaro Carreras; Luís Florentino, Fredrik Aursnes (Leandro Barreiro, 61’), Orkun Kökçü (Benjamín Rollheiser, 79’); Kerem Akturkoglu (Alexander Bah, 71’), Vangelis Pavlidis (Zeki Amdouni, 80’), Andreas Schjelderup (Ángel Di María, 71’)

Barcelona: Szczesny; Jules Koundé (Eric García, 74’), Pau Cubarsí, Ronald Araújo, Alejandro Baldé (Ferrán Torres, 74’); Marc Casadó (Frenki de Jong, 61’), Pedri González, Pablo Gavi (Fermín López, 62’); Lamine Yamal (Gerard Martín, 92’), Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha

Goals:

[1-0] Pavlidis, 2’

[1-1] Lewandowski (pen), 13’

[2-1] Pavlidis, 22’

[3-1] Pavlidis (pen), 30’

[3-2] Raphinha, 65’

[4-2] Araújo (o.g.), 68’

[4-3] Lewandowski (pen), 77’