10-Man Barcelona Secures Hard-Fought Win Against Benfica
Brazilian forward Raphinha struck a second-half winner to give Barcelona a hard-fought 1-0 victory at Benfica on Wednesday, as they overcame a red card for Pau Cubarsi early in the game to steal an advantage in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League last-16 tie.
Barcelona’s teenage defender Cubarsi was given a straight red card for a last-man foul on Vangelis Pavlidis in the 22nd minute, but the visitors hung on with goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny putting in a brilliant performance.
The Polish keeper ended up making eight saves, five of those in the second half when Benfica piled on the pressure with over 60% of possession and 15 goal attempts.
The Polish veteran pulled off a string of brilliant saves to keep Barcelona in the game and his effort was rewarded in the 61st minute when Raphinha pounced on a poor defensive pass across the Benfica box.
Raphinha then capitalised on the mistake, firing a low strike that deflected off a defender before going in just inside the left post.
Barcelona had only a couple of chances, as Raphinha scored with their only shot on target in the second half.
The star of the show, however, was Szczesny, who came out of retirement to play for Barcelona after Germany international Marc-Andre ter Stegen sustained a torn knee ligament in September.
Raphinha gives Barcelona a first-leg lead ✅#UCL pic.twitter.com/LNdCKY3KD4
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) March 5, 2025
“Szczesny saved us many times today, he is outstanding,” Barcelona midfielder Pedri told Spanish TV station Movistar Plus.
“You have to give a lot of credit for the team’s effort after going a man down so early in the game. On other days it was harder for us but today we hung on and defended really well.”
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