Barça retains second place in the Champions League and is already qualified for the round of 16, without going through the play-offs. Meanwhile, others still have a tough road ahead.
Flick's team has defeated Benfica 5-4. However, it broke the curse of the Da Luz stadium, where Flick's Bayern scored eight goals in 2020.
Surreal Goal by Raphinha
Barça had everything against it under the Lisbon rain. It managed to turn a crazy match in its favor with surreal goals. It also overcame the errors of an unfortunate Szczęsny.
Benfica scored, Barça equalized with a penalty. Benfica took the lead again, taking advantage of a blunder by Szczęsny, who collided with Balde and left the goal open.
Szczęsny's False Start
An absurd penalty by Szczęsny left the score at 3-1. Raphinha closed the gap with a surreal goal, unintentionally. Benfica scored again thanks to an own goal by Araújo.
With 2-4 and few minutes left to play, the 3-4 came from a penalty, which Lewandowski converted again. Then Eric García's header equalized the score.
Szczęsny's Penalty
With the match already concluded, Raphinha finished an individual counterattack with a great goal that awakened the worst instincts of Benfica and its fans.
The match ended with insults and exchanges of blows among the players themselves. The Portuguese didn't take the defeat well and vented their frustration on Barça's players.
Memorable Barça-Champions match. Against all odds, it managed to prevail. Immense Pedri organizing the game, bringing intensity, and creating dangerous passes from the back.
Raphinha's Winning Goal
Impressive intense play, showing faith in victory after an unfortunate first half.
This Barça is indeed Champions material. As of today, only Liverpool is better. In Lisbon, they were very confident.
However, Benfica fell to a rival that shot on goal 21 times, leaving the received chances at 10. The stats say it all.
Flick's Barça has done its homework in Europe, now it's time to recover the failed subject in LaLiga.