Flick talks Szczesny, Garcia, Pedri after Benfica 4-5 Barcelona – ‘Never experienced a comeback like this before’ | OneFootball

Barcelona and SL Benfica dished out a classic encounter, one for the ages, at Estadio da Luz last night in the UEFA Champions League, as the Catalans pulled off a stunning 5-4 comeback win in the last minute of the match.

Having gone behind early in the game, Barça managed to equalise through Robert Lewandowski’s penalty, only to concede two more goals before the half-hour mark courtesy of massive mistakes from goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

A comical moment in the second half saw Barça make it 3-2 when the Benfica goalkeeper’s clearance bounced off Raphinha’s head and the ball found its way into the goal.

Benfica restored their two-goal cushion minutes later but Lewandowski converted another penalty in the 78th minute before Eric Garcia made it 4-4 in the 86th minute.

Just when it seemed like the two teams would share the spoils, Raphinha came up clutch, scoring after a swift counter in the 96th minute to win it for his team.

Hansi Flick happy with attitude, wants to avoid mistakes

Speaking to the media after the epic encounter in Lisbon, Barcelona manager Hansi Flick highlighted his players’ attitude and mentality for not throwing in the towel at any point in the match.

“It was a crazy game. The best thing was the mentality. This is football. I have never experienced a comeback like this before,” said Flick.

“They are very good in transitions and they scored on us. They forced us to defend very deep, as we weren’t well positioned. The substitutions helped us a lot.”

The win meant that Barça have now secured a top-eight spot in the UCL table and will directly qualify for the knockout stages. But Flick insisted that the job was not done, saying:

“For us, now it’s important to focus on Valencia and then Atalanta. We don’t think about being calm. We want to beat Atalanta as well.”

On the change of tactics in the final stages of the game, when he opted for three centre-backs and a lot of attackers, the Barcelona boss said:

“We had to change something, that’s what we said at half-time, and that’s the best thing about the game. The mentality of the players, believing in themselves. It was excellent. I was already satisfied with one point, but with three it’s even better.”

A comeback for the ages. (Photo by Alex Pantling – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

Highlighting that there was still a lot of room for improvement, Flick remarked: “I think the most important thing is that we need time to train. We are making mistakes and that can’t be corrected with recovery sessions.

“It’s hard for the coaches but we’ve reached the last 16 and that’s important for us because it gives us some breathing space, precisely for that.”

Szczesny’s mistakes led to Barça conceding two goals in the first half but the manager sympathised with the veteran goalkeeper, saying:

“What player doesn’t make mistakes? We all make them. We win and lose together. I liked what I saw in the second half.”

Further delving into the Polish stopper’s performance as well as explaining the decision to start him over Inaki Pena, the German tactician stated:

“He made some mistakes in the first half. But like everyone else. I don’t talk in these situations about individual performances. Then he made important saves in Benica’s chances. We win together and we lose together.

“We analyse everything. Inaki has done well. There is nothing against Inaki, what I have done is a decision for the team. We’ll see what happens on Sunday.”

There was praise reserved for star midfielder Pedri, who was by far the best Barça player on the night.

“He always wants the ball, he creates the right play, he sees the spaces. And he’s very important for us. And he gave the assist for the 4-4. He is capable of creating chances,” said Flick.

The Barcelona head coach also hailed substitute Eric Garcia’s impact after coming on, saying:

“Eric is an important player for us, and he is also one of the best headers we have in attack. And today he proved it. He has a good mentality.”

On what he thought about Benfica’s strong protests against the referee over Barça’s last-minute winner, where VAR checked for a penalty for the hosts and nothing was given, Flick noted:

“They are one of the best teams in transition. I haven’t seen the last play. It went to the VAR and they decided against Benfica. It’s part of football. I live in the now. It was an amazing finish. It was an unbelievable game.”

Source: AS