Three key takeaways as Barcelona grind out 1-0 win over Benfica | OneFootball

It is not often that a 1-0 win for a club of the standard of FC Barcelona gets described as remarkable but considering the context, what Hansi Flick’s men managed to do against Benfica in Lisbon last night was nothing short of that.

Having to play the game with 10 men for around 70 minutes, the team showed immense effort and a general desire to ensure that they came away from the game with an advantage despite all odds being stacked against them.

While anyone would have taken a draw to go back to the Lluís Companys Olympic Stadium for the return leg, Raphinha had other plans as he scored a long ranger to give Barcelona the only goal of the game. After that, the team put everything they had on the line to ensure they don’t concede again.

With all this in mind, here are three key takeaways for Barcelona as they pull off a remarkable 1-0 win over Benfica at Estadio da Luz on Wednesday night.

1: Wojciech ‘The Wall’ Szczęsny

When Hansi Flick made the difficult but harsh decision to displace Iñaki Peña from the starting line-up and make Wojciech Szczęsny the number one for the rest of the season, it came across as quite a rude shock to fans who had grown to like what the Spaniard brought to the team.

Szczęsny looked shaky early on, understandably playing after a long gap but with every passing game, he has been getting better. Against Benfica, when Barcelona needed him the most after going a man down, the veteran Pole put in a performance for the ages.

One cannot even begin to imagine how long it has been since a Barcelona goalkeeper had such an assuring display on a big Champions League night. The 34-year-old proved to be an absolute wall and seemed unbeatable on the night.

Szczęsny proved last night that Hansi Flick made the right decision to trust him for the big games and the crucial part of the season. The ex-Juventus shot-stopper is still unbeaten as a Barcelona player and let’s wait and see how long the run can continue for.

2: Raphinha comes up clutch for Barcelona… Yet again!

Cometh the hour… Cometh the big moments… Cometh the man… Raphinha is making it a habit of stepping up for Barcelona when it matters the most and against Benfica last night, he yet again came up clutch.

The first time was so nice, that the Brazilian had to do it twice – emerging as the match-winner twice at Estadio da Luz in the same season. One was a 5-4 game and the other was a 1-0 but the result, nevertheless, was the same.

Raphinha has been continually showcasing this quality of his, even during last season. Everyone remembers the PSG games in which he stepped up massively and he has taken it to a whole new level this campaign.

The Brazilian will be crucial as the important games keep coming thick and fast for Barcelona. It is a blessing to have Raphinha in such blistering form and all we can say is long may it continue in Blaugrana colors.

3: Hansi Flick’s team = Mentality monsters

Make no mistake – the Barcelona teams of the past would have crumbled like poorly baked cookies minutes after suffering the red card that they did on Wednesday night. It would have been an absolute drubbing at the hands of Benfica.

However, Hansi Flick builds teams differently. It had been very obvious throughout this campaign that there has been a major transition in terms of the team’s mentality and last night was further evidence of how much the team has grown.

What makes Flick’s work even more astonishing is that he has worked with almost the same set of players as last season. Seven of those who started in that absolute capitulation at the hands of PSG last season were in the line-up last night and an 8th one came on in Ronald Araujo.

The fact that Barcelona managed to play that well after going one man down showcased how much the team had progressed. It was one of those games that gives a lot of confidence for what lies ahead and let’s wait and see how it plays out.