Barcelona: Barcelona secured a convincing 3-1 victory over Benfica on Tuesday, sealing a 4-1 overall victory to reach the Champions League quarter-finals with a dominant screen of the first semester led by Raphinha and Lamine Yamal.
Raphinha fell on every side of a stunning Yamal strike, as the Catalans dominated in the first semester, based on their win in the last 1-0-16, first leg in Lisbon.
Nicolas Otamendi had quickly accelerated Raphinha’s opener, but visitors were launched at the Olympic Stadium, as Barcelona was comfortably drawn from the tie and produced a few moments of brilliant football attack.
The Hansi Flick side will face Borussia Dortmund or Lille in the quarter -finals, as they seek to win the competition for the first time from 2015 and the time of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez.
“We are candidates to win everything,” Raphinha told the Movistar, with the hunting club for a possible treasure.
Barcelona is unbeaten in 17 matches in 2025.
“It’s good that players think about it (winning everything). It shows that they have confidence. They believe in what they do, but my job is to stay calm,” Flick said.
Flick had said that Barça would play for the late doctor Carles Minarro, who suddenly died on Saturday in front of the team’s match against Osasuna, who was postponed and the players observed a silence in his honor before he started.
“What happened made us get to this game even more determined to win,” Raphinha added.
“We won for us and Carles is always with us … He always has a place (here),” Flick said.
Five times the Champions League Barça winners took the lead after 11 minutes when Spain International Yamal burst into the area, cut its way beyond Florentino, and then broke the ball to Raphinha for a simple finish.
Benfica was leveled within two minutes when Otamendi fled Ronald Araújo to return home from a corner.
Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny was distinguished in the first leg, as the Catalans claimed an impressive 10 men after Pau Cubarsí’s red card, but could have made more to keep Otamendi’s effort.
However, Barcelona, and especially their wings Yamal and Raphinha, were in an impressive form and quickly restored their lead.
‘Dynamite’
Yamal won his first goal in seven matches, but deserved the wait, with the 17 -year -old cut from the right and launching an impressive shot beyond Anatoliy Tubin and the distant pole from the edge of the box.
“His goal was spectacular, he shows what Lamine is – he’s a spectacular player with enormous quality,” Raphinha said.
Raphinha grabbed his second before the break to give Barcelona a total pencil of three goals after a blister run by Alejandro Balde.
The left back won the ball back in its area and sliced the Portuguese team on the bench, transporting it to the edge of the Benfica area before Raphinha.
It was the 11th strike of the Winger competition and drives the scoring charts, and it also has 27 in all matches after 10 in each of its first two seasons since its integration into Leeds United.
“We have dynamite ahead and we have to take advantage of it,” Barça Midfielder Pedri said.
The Bruno Lage side was without injured veteran ángel di maría, but even with him, hitting Flick’s Barça in this form it would be a difficult question.
Fredrik Aursnes was set off for Benfica in the second half, but the target was banned for the offside against Vangelis Pavlidis, who scored a hat-trick as Barça won 5-4 at their first meeting this season at the January championship stage.
For the most part, Benfica struggled to reflect on Szczęsny and Barcelona came close to scoring the fourth when Frenkie de Jong broke widely in stretching at the end of a group move.
Barcelona is now waiting for their quarter -final opponent and may begin to prepare Atletico Madrid in La Liga on Sunday, in a huge clash in the Spanish title.
Benfica is allowed to focus on the Portuguese top flight, where it is second behind the athletic Lisbon.
“We have left a feeling of frustration. We could do better in both games,” Lage told SportTV.
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