Barcelona dramatically defeated Benfica with a tight score of 5-4 in the matchday 7 League Phase of the 2024/2025 Champions League held at the Estadio da Luz, Tuesday (21/1/2025).
Vangelis Pavlidis scored a hat-trick for Benfica in the first half, while another goal came from Ronald Araujo’s own goal in the second half.
Meanwhile, Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha both scored two goals for Barcelona, while the other goal was scored by Eric Garcia.
Thanks to this result, Barca is now in second place in the standings with 18 points. On the other hand, Benfica is in 18th place with 10 points.
The match had only been going on for two minutes, Barca’s goal had been breached through Pavlidis’ first-time shot following Alvaro Carreras’ crossing.
Lewandowski equalized the score in the 13th minute through a penalty after VAR previously considered Alejandro Balde to have been fouled in the penalty box.
Benfica took the lead again in the 22nd minute, again through Pavlidis’ action taking advantage of a miscommunication between Wojciech Szczesny and Balde.
In the 30th minute, Benfica got a penalty after Szczesny fouled Akturkoglu. Pavlidis then completed this penalty to become his third goal. The score of 3-1 lasted until halftime.
Entering the second half, Barca managed to reduce the deficit thanks to Raphinha’s goal in the 64th minute. However, Benfica moved away again four minutes later thanks to Araujo’s own goal.
In the 78th minute, Barca got another penalty after Carreras committed a foul in the penalty box. Lewandowski was once again successful in conquering Anatoly Trubin from the penalty spot.
Barca was able to equalize the score in the 87th minute through Eric Garcia’s header. Barca was extraordinarily able to turn the lead around in the sixth minute of injury time through Raphinha’s goal.
Raphinha was named man of the match in Barcelona’s 5-4 win over Benfica.
UEFA panelists voted Raphinha as the best player in the match. Raphinha was indeed the hero of Barca’s victory at Benfica’s home.
“He was very decisive in securing the three points. His performance was full of quality and resilience.” was the UEFA panel’s assessment.
Overall, Raphinha recorded seven shots, created three chances, made five dribbles
