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Updated January 22, 2025

Massive Comeback: Barcelona Secure the Knockout Round!

TL;DR

It's been a total madness! Going down by 4-2 in the 70th minute, Spanish team Barcelona made a dramatic comeback against Benfica in the UEFA Champions League...

Massive Comeback: Barcelona Secure the Knockout Round!

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It's been a total madness! Going down by 4-2 in the 70th minute, Spanish team Barcelona made a dramatic comeback against Benfica in the UEFA Champions League and secured a thrilling 4-5 win in Lisbon. Although Benfica's Vangelis Pavlidis scored a hat-trick, Raphinha stole the show by scoring the winning goal in the last minute of the injury time. "We knew how hard it would be here, in front of their fans, and they know how to play really well – they have top-level players,” Raphinha shared his thoughts after the game. “We didn’t let ourselves sink at 3-1 down, we were focused on what we needed to do to try and change the game. It was a spectacular game for everyone. They could have won, or us, but we managed to take it," stated Raphinha. However, with six straight wins in the Champions League, Barcelona also confirmed their spot in the round of 16.

Match Report

Benfica welcomed Barcelona in Lisbon tonight where Benfica boss set up the team formation with 4-3-3. Meanwhile, Barca boss Hansi Flick played his team with a 4-2-3-1 formation, using Robert Lewandowski in the front. However, the match started with Benfica getting an early lead. The home team stunned the Spanish side when Vangelis Pavlidis broke the deadlock in just two minutes. But Barcelona got the chance in the 13th minute, as Benfica's Araujo fouled Balde inside the box. The referee awarded Barcelona a spot-kick after the VAR check and Lewandowski converted the spot-kick to equalize the scoreline in the 12th minute. This match saw tons of errors between the two sides. Barca keeper Szczesny made a great mistake which led Vangelis Pavlidis to complete his brace in the 22nd minute. Szczesny made another mistake and fouled Benfica's Akturkoglou inside the box, resulting in a penalty kick to Benfica. Vangelis Pavlidis made no mistake and completed his hat-trick from the spot-kick in the 30th minute. Barcelona could not return more goals in the first half, but they had gone crazy after the break. The real opportunity came when Trubin's shot reflected on Raphinha and got into their own net! This one boosted the Spanish side massively in the remaining minutes of the match. Yet Barcelona conceded the 4th one when Ronald Araujo scored an own goal in the 70th minute. It seemed the match was over for Barcelona after 4-2, but the Catalan side showed a monster mentality in the remaining minutes. The scenario started to change when Barcelona got the second spot kick, from where Lewandowski made the scoreline 4-3 in the 78th minute. A few minutes later, Barcelona equalized when substitute Eric Garcia converted Pedrid's wonderful cross with a header in the 86th minute. It was still expected that the match would end in a tie. But Raphinha killed the game at the very last minute of the injury time. His brilliant goal in the 90+5th minute secured all three points for Barcelona and marked it as one of the greatest comebacks in Barca's history in this competition.

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