By Opta Analyst | Created at 2025-01-22 00:16:35 | Updated at 2025-01-22 04:37:44
4 hours ago
Barcelona edged an instant classic at the Estádio da Luz on Tuesday. Re-live an astonishing game with the best facts and Opta data in our Benfica vs Barcelona stats page.
Barcelona and Benfica played out one of the most baffling matches you are ever likely to watch as Hansi Flick’s men won 5-4 at the Estádio da Luz in a Champions League classic on Tuesday.
Benfica looked as though they were cruising to victory at times, twice finding themselves two goals to the good.
But their Catalan visitors, to their credit, battled back and scored a late winner, making it six wins in a row despite gifting Benfica three goals.
And while the game will live long in the memory of anyone who watched, it was a day to forget for most defenders and goalkeepers involved.
Barcelona found themselves trailing within just two minutes, Vangelis Pavlidis getting his first with an emphatic close-range finish from Álvaro Carreras’ pinpoint left-wing cross.
Tomás Araújo felled Alejandro Balde in the box 11 minutes later to give Barcelona the perfect opportunity to level, and Robert Lewandowski duly obliged.
But the visitors were then their own worst enemies.
First, Wojciech Szczesny and Balde collided outside the area to leave Pavlidis with an open goal; then, the Greek striker converted a penalty of his own after the Barcelona goalkeeper fouled Kerem Aktürkoğlu.
That was the first time since their infamous 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in August 2020 that Barcelona had conceded three goals in the first half of a Champions League game, while Pavlidis became the first Greek to net a UCL hat-trick since Kostas Mitroglou in 2013.
Barcelona pulled one back just past the hour in bizarre fashion as Benfica goalkeeper Anatolii Trubin’s clearance ricocheted back off Raphinha’s head and looped in from 25 yards.
But just a few minutes later, Ronald Araujo turned Andreas Schjelderup’s cross into his own net as the deficit returned to two goals.
Barcelona were far from done, though.
Carreras conceded the game’s third penalty when clumsily fouling Lamine Yamal, allowing Lewandowski to get his second of the day – the Pole’s 95% conversion rate from penalties (excluding shootouts) the best of any player in Champions League history (minimum 7 penalties).
Then Eric García struck to make it 4-4 in the 86th minute, seemingly securing Barcelona a point – only, Raphinha had other ideas.
He burst on to Lewandowski’s hopeful clearance, made space for himself and then smashed in Barcelona’s stoppage-time winner to round off an incredible game.
Our Opta match centre delivers you all the Benfica vs Barcelona stats from their Champions League meeting at Estádio da Luz.
The match centre below includes team and player stats, expected goals data, passing networks, an Opta chalkboard and more. It gives you everything you need to do your own post-match analysis.
Underneath the match centre you can find the official Opta stats on the game as well.
Benfica vs Barcelona: Post-Match Facts
- Raphinha has been involved in more UEFA Champions League goals than any other player this season (10 – 8 goals, 2 assists), while his second goal this evening (95:08) was Barcelona’s latest winning goal on record (since 2003-04) in the competition.
- Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski has scored nine goals against Benfica in the UEFA Champions League (scoring in each of his last five appearances against them) with only Cristiano Ronaldo (10 vs Juventus) netting more goals against a specific opponent in the competition’s history.
- Vangelis Pavlidis’ hat-trick for Benfica was the third fastest from the start of a UEFA Champions League game (30 minutes) after Robert Lewandowski vs FC Red Bull Salzburg in March 2022 (23 minutes) and Marco Simone vs Rosenborg in September 1996 (24 minutes).
- Barcelona came from two goals down to win a European Cup/UEFA Champions League game for the very first time, while this was the second time Benfica have lost a game despite going two goals ahead (2-3 vs Crvena Zvezda in September 1984).
- 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 (Borussia Dortmund 8-4 Legia Warsaw in November 2016).
Enjoy this? Subscribe to our football newsletter to receive exclusive weekly content. You should also follow our social accounts over on X, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook.
