Three takeaways from Benfica 0-1 Barcelona | OneFootball

Every trip of Barcelona’s to Lisbon ends up being eventful, and last night was no different as they faced off against Benfica in the Round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League.

Despite a bright start, the Catalans appeared to have dug their own grave in the competition once more when Pau Cubarsi unnecessarily dived into a dangerous challenge just outside the box and was instantly sent off for his tackle.

Benfica, as the hosts and with a man advantage, began pressing hard for a lead but came up short repeatedly.

Barcelona, meanwhile, pounced on a half-chance in the second half as Raphinha pummelled the ball past the Benfica goalkeeper and took the lead against the run of play.

The Catalans are now ahead by one goal on aggregate after a special performance and will be confident of progressing next week with a draw or a win.

Barça Universal brings you three takeaways from Benfica 0-1 Barcelona.

Barcelona are no longer the same

Barcelona have a history of sabotaging themselves in the UEFA Champions League and exited the competition last season only after a Ronald Araujo red card saw them lose control of the game against PSG.

Watching Pau Cubarsi make a similar rookie error early on last night, thus, brought flashbacks of the team’s UCL horrors in the past and prepared fans for another humbling.

Just watching Barcelona continue to play unfazed, manage the game brilliantly, keep Benfica under control and even go on to win despite being a man down left fans across the world with jaws dropped.

It is safe to say that the Catalans are no longer the timid, fragile version of themselves who got trampled in Europe in recent years.

It was in the 22nd minute that Cubarsi had himself sent off, but neither did Hansi Flick nor his players flinch. The manager took Dani Olmo off for Araujo to restore defensive soundness and the team shifted to a low-block, resisting Benfica’s pressure.

Not only did they keep the hosts at bay but they soon began growing into the game and orchestrating dangerous counter-attacks against Benfica despite having one player less.

The change in mentality of the dressing room and the young squad, at this point, is simply unbelievable. It has come too much, too fast and it appears too good to be true.

Yet, all of that is nothing but the highest of praise for Flick. The world he has put in with the dressing room is truly gargantuan and he has made it a team that truly believes in their ability to win irrespective of the situation.

Szczesny comes full circle

Szczesny was brilliant vs Benfica. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

When Barcelona took to the field at Estadio da Luz earlier this season, Wojciech Szczesny made his UEFA Champions League debut for the club and dropped one of the worst performances of his career.

Still new to the starting XI, he struggled to communicate with the team and was involved in a serious miscommunication with Alejandro Balde to leave the goal open for Vangelis Pavlidis. He then gave away a penalty in the same half, helping Benfica increase their lead.

Such was Szczesny’s disastrous night that fans called out loud for Inaki Pena’s return, something Flick refused to entertain as he insisted he saw something special in the veteran.

Last night, the Polish goalkeeper returned against the same opposition in the same stadium and it is only poetic that he delivered his best-ever performance in a Barcelona shirt yet.

Szczesny’s night began right in the first minute when he was called into action to deny Kerem Akturkoglu. After the red card for Cubarsi, Benfica further pushed in attack and bombarded the Barcelona goal with shots.

Yet, Szczesny was impenetrable last night and his reflexes, presence of mind and ability to stay calm helped him keep a clean sheet despite the team having one man less.

In 90 minutes, he produced eight saves including five from inside the box, and prevented an xG of 1.2, had two punches, two high claims and two successful runs out.

His distribution was almost perfect and he delivered the single-greatest goalkeeping performance Barcelona have ever seen in recent times. Needless to say, his performance last night will go down in the history books as a highly special night of goalkeeping brilliance.

A massive, massive advantage

Considering how Barcelona’s last game at Estadio da Luz went, even a narrow win over Benfica was always going to be considered a positive result to take home from the first leg in the UCL Round of 16 clash.

After Cubarsi’s red card, however, even a draw or a low-margin defeat suddenly began looking favourable as the team had to play close to 70 minutes down a man.

To bring home a 1-0 win from Lisbon, that too playing with a numerical disadvantage, is thus massive for Barcelona and their chances of qualifying for the next round.

The second leg of the clash is scheduled at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys and Barcelona enter that game one goal ahead on aggregate.

What is bigger, however, is that they will enter the reverse fixture supremely confident, especially after defeating Benfica last night in the game situation that they had.

Last night’s win will do wonders for Barcelona’s confidence and instil a serious sense of supremacy in the dressing room.

If the score difference was not a big enough factor, the confidence boost Barcelona will have for next week’s game is definitely enough to make them significant favourites to progress to the quarterfinals.