Raphinha scores 2 and Barcelona turns into an electrifying 9-goal game against Benfica in the Champions League

An electrifying game marked the first round of 2025 of the Champions League. At the Estádio da Luz, in Lisbon, Barcelona, led by Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski, achieved an impressive comeback and won 5-4 against Benfica. With their sixth consecutive victory, the Catalan club reached 18 points, in second place, three behind leader Liverpool. Benfica has 10.

Raphinha scores 2 and Barcelona turns into an electrifying 9-goal game against Benfica in the Champions League

Photo: Instagram/@fcbarcelona

Still looking to qualify and counting on the support of the fans, Benfica bet on the advanced lines of Barcelona’s defense to surprise the visitors with counterattacks and long balls. In the second minute, Carreras received the ball from the left and crossed into the middle of the area for Pavlidis to complete the goal, first time, and open the scoring.

It didn’t take long for Lewandowski to equalize the score, in the 13th minute, with a penalty kick, but the home team counted on Szczesny’s help to regain the lead. In the 22nd minute, the goalkeeper left the area to try to cut off a long throw and collided with Balde, leaving Pavlidis free to advance with the ball and play into the empty goal. Six minutes later, the Pole ran into Akturkoglu’s legs in the area and committed a penalty, which was converted by the Greek striker.

The Catalan team took control of the game and tried to reduce the damage in the final stretch of the first half, but seemed to have felt the blow. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha had clear opportunities to find goalkeeper Trubin’s net with crosses into the area, but failed in their respective shots.

The second half started evenly, with both teams trying to attack the opponent, and again with defensive failures defining the score. Barcelona scored their second goal, in the 19th minute, with a bizarre throw-in by Trubin, who kicked the ball at Raphinha’s head and saw it return to his net. Three minutes later, Ronald Araújo deflected Schjelderup’s cross against his own goal: 4-2.

Another penalty goal by Lewandowski, in the 32nd minute, put the visitors back into the match and the final minutes were full of Catalan pressure. The equalizer came in the 41st minute, when Pedri lifted the ball in the area and Eric García went up alone to make it 4-4. The game opened up in the final minutes, with clear chances on both sides, until Raphinha, in the 50th minute, left the field alone. defense field and touch Trubin’s corner to set the score.

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After surprising Real Madrid, Atlético de Madrid, as well as drawing with Juventus, Lille entered the field, at Anfield, willing to end Liverpool’s unbeaten run, but the home team won 2-1 and secured a direct place. in the round of 16.

Bakker and Gudmundsson created good chances to threaten Brazilian Alisson’s goal, but the French team failed to make the last pass, causing little danger. The English, in turn, had a slow start and took a while to find themselves on the field. Arne Slot’s team tried to exploit counterattacks, seeking mainly to take advantage of the quality of the offensive quartet formed by Szoboszlai, Salah, Darwin Núñez and Luis Díaz. The goal, however, only came in the 33rd minute, with a dig from Salah after a beautiful pass from Curtis Jones.

Liverpool came back from the break with a different attitude and cornered Lille in the defensive field, wasting consecutive opportunities to increase the score in the offensive field. The French team’s situation looked like it would get complicated once Mandi was sent off in the 13th minute, but, in the 16th minute, Jonathan David took advantage of the rebound of Haraldsson’s shot that hit Van Dijk and equalized the score.

Despite the scare, the technical and numerical superiority on the field favored Liverpool, who took the lead again in the 22nd minute. Elliott, who had come on at half-time, took the free kick after a corner from Tsimikas, hit it from outside the area and had the ball deflected in defense to beat Chevalier and close the score.