Benfica 0-1 Barcelona: Match report & 5 talking points as Szczesny becomes unexpected hero | OneFootball

Barcelona are within 90 minutes of reaching the Champions League quarter-finals following Wednesday night’s hard-fought 1-0 victory over Benfica in Lisbon.

Hansi Flick’s Barcelona played three quarters of the game with a player less after Pau Cubarsi was sent off midway through the first half, but Raphinha was able to win it of the Catalans visitors.

Wojciech Szczesny also put up a huge performance in goal to underpin the win.

How the game unfolded

Things got started at 100mph as Szczesny pulled out a brilliant save from Kerem Akturkoglu in the opening minute, reacting to a shot from the Benfica winger to tip it away. Both sides had more half chances in the early exchanges, before Barcelona settled into the dominant role.

Benfica had goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin for keeping things level as a goalmouth scramble the Ukrainian somehow deny Dani Olmo, Robert Lewandowski and Lamine Yamal.

But midway through the first half, Barca found themselves reduced to ten players. Pau Cubarsi was deemed guilty of denying Vangelis Pavlidis a goalscoring opportunity after the Benfica striker had burst through the middle. The on-field decision was red card and VAR agreed.

Szczesny kept out the resultant free-kick from Orkun Kokcu with a strong save, with the momentum clearly shifting in Benfica’s favour thanks to their man-advantage. The veteran Barcelona goalkeeper had to be alert to prevent Andreas Schjelderup form latching onto a dangerous ball, before another great stop in the closing stages of the first half, parrying Akturkoglu’s header.

Into the second half and Pavlidis skied a good chance from Alvaro Carreras’ cutback on the left, perhaps deserving the benefit of the doubt due to a slight deflection on the cross into the box.

Even with mitigation, Benfica were made to regret that miss almost instantly. Just a few minutes later, Raphinha put Barcelona ahead against the run of play. Antonio Silva was guilty of a sloppy pass in Benfica’s half that was picked off by Raphinha, who knocked the ball forward and drilled a low shot into the bottom corner of Trubin’s goal from 25 yards.

Benfica knew that, having been presented with a golden opportunity at home against a depleted Barcelona, their opportunity was slipping away. Bruno Lage put on veteran Italian striker Andrea Belotti and issued clear instructions to get numbers forward. Flick went the opposite way, seeking to preserve the slender lead, and put defender Gerard Martin on for Robert Lewandowski.

Belotti appealed desperately for a penalty in the closing stages as he attempted to round Szczesny, only for an offside flag to render whether it was or wasn’t irrelevant. Barca then survived a worrying flurry of Benfica corners as stoppage time approached, while Szczesny’s 94th minute save from substitute Renato Sanches ultimately saw his team through to victory.

Check out the player ratings from Benfica vs Barcelona.

Fine margins

Pau Cubarsi was given his marching orders / Soccrates Images/GettyImages

At 18 years and 42 days, Pau Cubarsi is now the youngest player ever to be sent off in a Champions League knockout game. We’re talking about really fine margins because the Barca centre-back, having let Vangelis Pavlidis break the defensive line, actually got himself into position to intervene.

Cubarsi caught up with Pavlidis and managed to hook his leg across the front of the Benfica striker, with the ball there to win. But positioning alone wasn’t enough. He quite literally missed the ball and clattered into the man instead, bringing Pavlidis down. Had he taken the ball, as he was in prime position to do, the talk here would be about a world class goal-saving tackle and not a red card.

Mere centimetres off, it was a deserved dismissal instead.

Flick manages the disadvantage

Hansi Flick's tactical adjustment was crucial / Eurasia Sport Images/GettyImages

From initially dictating the game, to then sitting deep and hoping to counter attack, the red card massively changed things. As soon as Cubarsi was off the pitch, Hansi Flick wanted defensive reinforcement, opting to hook Dani Olmo to get Ronald Araujo on to restore a back four.

It obviously removed Olmo’s influence and threat from the game and prevented Barcelona from having an outlet with which to play through the pitch. The knock-on effect from that was Robert Lewandowski also being too isolated to really leave his mark on the contest.

It made for a very un-Barcelona performance, relying on defensive discipline and feeding off attacking scraps for three quarters of the game.

Yamal plays less than an hour

Not Lamine Yamal's night / Soccrates Images/GettyImages

Whether frustrated by his performance or at the thought of being withdrawn, Lamine Yamal didn’t look particularly thrilled to be coming off the pitch just 11 minutes into the second half.

Flick decided that he wanted Ferran Torres on the pitch instead and Yamal, so often Barcelona’s X-factor over the last 18 months, was the player sacrificed.

It’s rare that Yamal plays less than 90 minutes, let alone under 60. But his exit here coincided with ex-Manchester United left-back Alvaro Carreras starting to make dangerous runs forward, so it stands to reason that stopping that threat down the right flank could have come into it.

With Ferran going to the left, Raphinha moved over to the right in place of Yamal to solidify things.

Reliable Raphinha

The club wanted to replace Raphinha last summer / Sports Press Photo/GettyImages

Rewind to last August and Barcelona were desperate to bring in Nico Williams from Athletic Club. Had that approach not been scuppered by the club’s limited finances, Raphinha could very well have found himself pushed towards the periphery, and probably even the door.

But what a season it has been for the Brazilian winger. He’s spent much of it as captain, wearing the armband while Frenkie de Jong and Ronald Araujo were sidelined, and netted his 25th goal of a wonderful campaign to put this tie in his team’s favour.

Nine of his goals this season have come in nine Champions League appearances, while it’s an immense 41 goal involvements and counting across all competitions.

Sometimes, what you need is not what you want, but what you already have.

It was a big night for Wojciech Szczesny / Soccrates Images/GettyImages

Barcelona wouldn’t have won this game without Raphinha’s goal, but the reason they had the foundation to claim victory at all was the masterful performance of Wojciech Szczesny.

This is the guy who walked away from football altogether at the end of last season. He was retired when Barcelona picked him up as emergency cover following Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s injury and it took him a while to displace Inaki Pena from the starter position.

Szczesny made eight saves over the course of the game, including three really big ones to deny Kerem Akturkogu (twice in the first half), and Renato Sanches at the death.