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Barcelona continued their unbeaten streak in 2025 with a wild and thrilling 5-4 victory over Benfica at the Estádio da Luz on Tuesday night. The Catalan giants came back from a 4-2 deficit in the final 20 minutes, scoring three goals, including a 96th-minute winner by Raphinha, to secure all three points to book an automatic spot in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16.
The match began with Benfica taking an early lead through Vangelis Pavlidis, who scored in the 2nd minute after a well-timed switch of play by Benfica right-back Tomás Araújo found the run of left-back Álvaro Carreras, and his cross was smashed home by Pavlidis. Benfica almost doubled the lead three minutes later thanks to another great play by Carreras, who stole the ball from Lamine Yamal at the halfway line and found Fredrik Aursnes with a brilliant cross, but the midfielder somehow missed a one-on-one chance.
Barcelona struggled to find their footing, but finally started to have some success keeping possession and forcing Benfica to defend deeper. Alejandro Balde gave his team some life when he was fouled inside the box by Araújo, and Robert Lewandowski scored the penalty to level the score. However, Barcelona’s joy was short-lived, as goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny made a series of inexplicable mistakes that allowed Pavlidis to complete his hat-trick.
The first mistake came when Szczesny tried to come out of his box to play sweeper keeper on a long pass that was totally under control by Balde, but the two ended up colliding, and Pavlidis had a free path to walk the ball into the net. Ten minutes later, Szczesny made another awful error, rushing out of his goal again and fouling Kerem Aktürkoglu inside the box, and Pavlidis completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot to give Benfica a 3-1 lead at halftime.
The second half saw Barcelona struggle to create meaningful attacking threats, despite having more possession. However, a fortunate goal by Raphinha in the 61st minute, which came off a Benfica keeper Anatoliy Trubin’s attempted clearance, gave the visitors a glimmer of hope. Benfica restored their two-goal lead through an own goal by Ronald Araujo, but Barcelona refused to give up.
Hansi Flick’s ultra-attacking substitutions paid off as Barcelona scored three goals in the final 15 minutes. Lewandowski scored his second penalty of the night after Carreras brought down Yamal in the box, and Eric García equalized with a header in the 85th minute after a glorious cross by Pedri. Just when it seemed the match would end in a draw, Raphinha scored the winner in the 96th minute, securing a dramatic comeback victory for Barcelona.
The win keeps Barcelona unbeaten in 2025 and have them secure an automatic spot in the Champions League Round of 16. The Catalan giants will look to build on this momentum in their upcoming league fixtures where they currently occupy third.
