FC Barcelona have taken a giant step towards the Champions League quarter finals by not only winning Wednesday’s first leg in Lisbon 1-0, but doing so despite only having ten men on the field for more than an hour.
Not only did they manage to cope splendidly with the numerical inferiority, but their football got better and better, and climaxed with what would turn out to be the winner from Raphinha on 60 minutes.
From there on, we were treated to a masterclass in defending as the Catalans battled intensely against both Benfica and tiredness to hold on for a very impressive victory indeed.
Of course, this was only part of the story. There is still another game to be played in Barcelona in six days time. But after this performance, Hansi Flick, the players and the whole blaugrana community have every reason to feel very pleased indeed with the way things stand at the halfway point.
Cubarsí off
The defining moment of the game came in the 23rd minute. Admittedly, Vangelis Pavlidis was through on goal. And Pau Cubarsí did catch him late. It was frustrating, but Barça were going to have to play over and hour of this game with ten men, and also without Dani Olmo, who was the sacrificed forward.
Until the goal, the game had been tightly balanced, with Barça coming closest when home stopper Anatolii Trubin produced a miracle save to block Robert Lewandowski from close range.
Between them the respective goalkeepers conceded nine goals in that extraordinary game in January, but this time neither was going to be as easily beaten.
Sheer Szczesny
Wojciech Szczesny was simply outstanding in the Barça net. His gloves had already been warmed in the very first minute, and that was just the first of a series of monumental moments involving the Pole. A Kerem Aktürkoglu header and a Fredrik Aursnes strike both looked like certain goals, but Szczesny had other ideas. And they were brilliant ones.
And not the last ones of the night. In total, he would make eight key saves on his proudest night in the Barça goalkeeper’s jersey.
With Pedri and Frenkie de Jong commanding the midfield so well, Benfica were unable to make their extra man show. Barça’s confidence grew so much that it was eventually them who not only had the upper hand, but also found the net.
Raphinha!
Bang on the hour, a lurking Raphinha pounced on a sloppy bit of passing in the Portuguese back four, and his finish was utter perfection. In the face of adversity, Barça had persevered, and the reward was a 1-0 lead!
January told us what a good side Benfica are, and again they were showing their class, but so was the Barça defence. There were some very tired legs out there, but everyone buckled down to determinedly defend the lead. So many times the Stadium of Light roared when they thought their time had come, but each time a Barça shirt was there in time to rid the danger.
The Portuguese surge of the last 30 minutes came to nothing, and even when they were awarded a penalty it was cancelled out for an offside just before.
Under the circumstances, a 1-0 win in this game was a tremendous result to take back to the Estadi Olimpic where Barça will not only be able to continue the job, but will be able to do so with eleven men on the field.
