Barcelona somehow managed to scrape a 5-4 win away to Benfica on Tuesday in one of the maddest games in Champions League history.
After over a month off, the Champions League returned with a bang on Tuesday as Benfica and Barcelona played out an instant classic at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon.
Barcelona came out on top in a 5-4 thriller, but the scoreline – as baffling as it was – can only tell you so much.
Here, we have picked out the six most noteworthy facts that we could find to summarise just how remarkable a game it was…
This was the first game in UEFA Champions League history to finish 5-4, with Barcelona becoming just the second side in the competition’s history to win a game despite conceding 4+ goals.
We’ve seen plenty of high-scoring games in Champions League history – in fact, this wasn’t even the highest-scoring match in this season’s competition (that was Bayern Munich’s 9-2 win against Dinamo Zagreb).
But this being the first 5-4 after 32 and a half years of the competition reflects how mad an occasion it was.
We’re used to seeing one-sided batterings, teams handing out four-, five- or even six-goal hammerings to nil, but having two teams going at it hammer and tongs – and scoring a hatful each – like Benfica and Barcelona did, is a truly rare spectacle.
After all, it was only the second time a team has scored four goals and lost (Borussia Dortmund 8-4 Legia Warsaw in November 2016).
Games with lots of goals tend (not always, of course) to see one side dominate at least to some degree, ultimately running away with the win, or there’s the occasional high-scoring draw.
But this was different, tight and contested until the very last minute. Benfica might have won it themselves, but Barcelona survived a late scare before going straight up the other end and getting Raphinha’s winner.
Barcelona’s persistence was rewarded, though there was something else at play too…
The combined total of penalties (3), own goals (1) and errors leading to goals (2) amounted to six; that’s the most on record in a Champions League game (since 2007-08).
Tuesday’s game was obviously an instant classic and a thrilling watch, but it was characterised by errors and questionable decisions rather than excellence.
Wojciech Szczesny, the Barcelona goalkeeper, endured a particularly nightmarish evening in Lisbon.
In rushing out from his area in the 22nd minute, he clattered into his own teammate, Alejandro Balde, who appeared to have the situation under control as he chased a pass over the defence. The young full-back got to the ball, but unaware Szczesny had ventured into no-man’s land, he inadvertently nudged it past his goalkeeper who simultaneously scythed the defender down to leave Vangelis Pavlidis with arguably the simplest goal of his career to make it 2-1.
Eight minutes later, the Polish goalkeeper – who at this point was probably questioning his decision to come out of retirement earlier this season – came flying out of his goal again and got nowhere near the ball as he fouled Kerem Aktürkoğlu to concede a penalty.
That was the second of three spot-kicks in the match. The first saw Tomas Araújo clumsily send Balde tumbling when overcommitting in the box, while the third came as a result of Alvaro Carreras tugging back Lamine Yamal. And when you’re playing against Robert Lewandowski, a penalty is pretty much as good as a guaranteed goal.
Anatolii Trubin was the one picking the balls out of the Benfica net, and he’ll take the blame – fairly or not – for Raphinha’s first goal that made it 3-2. The Ukrainian goalkeeper attempted a long ball forward but it ricocheted off the grateful Brazilian’s forehead and looped into the net from 25 yards for one of the most bizarre goals you’re likely to see.
And then there was the Ronald Araujo own goal, as the Uruguayan misjudged Andreas Schjelderup’s pass into the six-yard box and turned it past Szczesny.
It was a day to forget for defenders and goalkeepers alike but one to remember for fans of comedy football.
Barcelona came from two goals down to win a European Cup/UEFA Champions League game for the very first time.
When Benfica made it 3-1 with Pavlidis’ hat-trick clincher, and then when they went 4-2 up thanks to Araujo’s own goal, Barcelona looked dead and buried.
They’d had chances, sure, but Benfica seemed to have the Midas touch. They scored with each of their first three shots on target, and the commitment to calamity on show in the Barcelona defence was hardly inspiring.
Luckily for Barcelona, Benfica either decided they also weren’t in a very serious mood or the visitors’ proficiency for shooting themselves in the foot proved contagious. Either way, Hansi Flick’s team had the quality in attack to take advantage.
Perhaps there was a bit of mental strength thrown in there for good measure too towards the end, though it’s difficult not to look at Barcelona’s first, second and third goals as gifts presented by Benfica.
Nevertheless, Barça had never come back from two goals down to win a European Cup/Champions League game, and Benfica hadn’t been on the end of such a comeback since 1984.
There was nothing ordinary about it.
Vangelis Pavlidis’ hat-trick for Benfica was the third-fastest from the start of a UEFA Champions League game (30 minutes).
Somehow, Pavlidis’ first-half hat-trick ended up being a mere footnote from this game. He probably felt a pang of embarrassment asking for the match ball at full-time (assuming of course that he did!) just a few moments after Barcelona completed their ridiculous fightback to scenes of bedlam in their technical area.
But fear not, Vangelis, Opta Analyst is here to put the spotlight back on you for a moment. After all, on any other day, he would’ve been the story.
Pavlidis swept home his penalty in the 30th minute of the match, which made it the third-quickest hat-trick from the start of a match in Champions League history.
Only Lewandowski (23 minutes for Bayern vs Red Bull Salzburg, March 2022) and Marco Simone (24 minutes for Milan vs Rosenborg, September 1996) have netted three times in the same game by an earlier point than Pavlidis on Tuesday.
Similarly, it was the earliest hat-trick ever scored in a major European game for Benfica, surpassing Eusébio’s against F91 Dudelange in the 1965-66 European Cup (31 minutes).
Furthermore, Pavlidis became only the second Greek player in Champions League history to net three in one game after Kostas Mitroglou (Olympiakos vs Anderlecht, October 2013), who also missed a penalty in Brussels that night.
And finally, Pavlidis joined esteemed company in making himself just the fourth player to score a Champions League hat-trick against Barcelona after Kylian Mbappé (2021), Andriy Shevchenko and Faustino Asprilla (both 1997).
Benfica and Barcelona combined for 6.97 expected goals, the second-most xG for a match on record in the Champions League (since 2010-11).
For all of the goals that were scored, there were arguably several other opportunities that should’ve also resulted in the net bulging.
Fredrik Aursnes spurned a glorious chance just after Pavlidis’ opener, plus another reasonable one early in the second half; Ángel Di María was denied by Szczesny in the 89th minute; Jules Koundé might have done better three minutes after the break.
Essentially then, it was a game of many goals and justifiably so. Great opportunities were frequent; in fact, there were 13 Opta-defined ‘big chances’ – those from which a player would be expected to score – which was the third most on record (since 2010-11) in the competition.
The game’s combined total of 32 shots equated to 6.97 xG overall, the second most in a Champions League game on record (since 2010-11). The only other match to see opportunities worth more xG was Barcelona’s 6-1 win over Roma in November 2015 (7.16), and most of that was earned by one side.
On top of that, Tuesday’s game was also only the second Champions League match on record in which both teams recorded at least 3.0 xG. Barcelona’s shots were worth 3.6, whereas Benfica’s came in at 3.3.
The first game to see both teams create such valuable chances was the 3-3 draw between Ajax and Bayern Munich in December 2018 – Lewandowski also scored twice in that.
Raphinha’s second goal was Barcelona’s latest winning goal (95:08) on record (since 2003-04) in the Champions League.
Barcelona had just survived a scare of their own as Benfica fans pleaded over two hopeful penalty shouts in the visitors’ area.
They scrapped the ball away and then Ferran Torres smashed the ball into the Benfica half, finding – coincidentally or not – the run of Raphinha in behind Carreras.
The Brazilian darted into the box, cut back on to his left foot and shot through the Benfica left-back’s legs, giving Trubin no chance.
Barcelona had to wait for a VAR check to confirm there wasn’t to be a penalty at the other end that would’ve ruled out Raphinha’s strike, and luckily for them, Fermín Lopez wasn’t judged to have fouled Leandro Barreiro.
Raphinha’s effort found the net with 95 minutes and eight seconds played, making it their latest winning goal in the competition on record.
And while Benfica will have ultimately been left feeling hard done by, stunned at how they’d not been able to see out the win, it was a game that deserved a dramatic twist at the death.
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