See it to believe it: Barcelona copy Real Madrid in sensational style

A wild match at Da Luz saw Szczesny’s blunders complicated things, but Raphinha’s late heroics secured Barcelona’s spot in the next round.

Barcelona became the second team to advance to the Champions League Round of 16 after winning a wild match against Benfica, where they had to come back from 3-1 and 4-2 deficits to ultimately win 5-4 in stoppage time, in a fashion reminiscent of Real Madrid. The game was inexplicable, with Raphinha emerging in the final 20 sensational minutes to counteract Szczesny’s blunders.

As anticipated from Flick’s pre-match press conference on Monday, Szczesny took over the goalkeeping duties from Iñaki Peña. The rest of the team remained the same as in their big games, while Benfica’s Di María started on the bench.

Flick’s decision to change the goalkeeper was as incomprehensible as it was disastrous. The German coach made a baffling choice that, given the Polish goalkeeper’s track record, was entirely unjustified. In Barbastro, Szczesny was a spectator; against Athletic, he caused a couple of scares with his exits; and against Madrid, he was sent off for another reckless play. Perhaps Flick sees something extraordinary in training, but the Polish goalkeeper was like having the enemy within: Flick really outdid himself with the decision.

Szczesny nightmare gives Benfica advantage

Just two minutes into the game, Szczesny had his first intervention—specifically, to pick the ball out of the net after Álvaro Carreras provided a preview of his performance by crossing for Pavlidis, who will likely treat Szczesny to dinner someday, to score the first goal.

Barcelona gradually recovered, more with heart than head, as evidenced by the team relying on Balde’s drive rather than Pedri’s composure. Lamine, meanwhile, was only notable for his flashy backheels for YouTube and a collection of lost duels against Carreras, who nullified him in the first half like no other defender had before.

Thanks to Balde, Barcelona managed to equalize with a penalty committed on the Blaugrana left-back, which Lewandowski converted. It seemed the early hole was patched, and Barcelona began to dominate Benfica.

But the Portuguese side found in Szczesny the clumsy recruit capable of undermining any strategy. Ten minutes after the equalizer, and just when Benfica was struggling the most, the goalkeeper made an inexplicable run out of goal (one might say he went out for a smoke) and took out Balde, who already had the ball under control. Pavlidis was handed a goal on a silver platter. But things could still get worse: five minutes later, with Barcelona in disarray, Szczesny charged like a bull at a Portuguese forward and conceded a penalty that, while debatable on review, was clear in real-time. Pavlidis stepped up again, completing a hat-trick—the Greek, who had scored just one goal in his last 12 matches, was living a dream.

Barcelona’s superb comeback

Barcelona, in disarray, tried to mount a comeback before halftime. They had chances, as Benfica’s defense was a mess. But neither Lamine nor Raphinha could score when left alone in front of the home goal.

The second half coincided with a storm of rain, lightning, and thunder, which didn’t help Barcelona, as they continued to miss their chances. Flick brought on Fermín and De Jong, hoping for a miracle under the rain, with Pedri taking charge of operations.

It seemed under control for the home team, but in an act of goalkeeper solidarity, Trubyn decided to spice things up. He kicked the ball straight to Raphinha’s head, making it 3-2. Araújo scored an own goal a minute later, showing that with the Polish goalkeeper at the back, Barcelona was shaky.

Then came the madness led by the phenomenal Raphinha. With Barcelona lost, Lamine forced a penalty that Lewandowski converted. When the game was hanging by a thread, Eric equalized with a header from a corner four minutes before the end, and in stoppage time, Raphinha made a memorable run to score the 4-5. Something many in Europe had only seen Real Madrid do before. This Barcelona has a love affair with the Champions League.