BARCELONA: Barcelona secured a convincing 3-1 victory over Benfica on Tuesday, sealing a 4-1 aggregate win to reach the Champions League quarter-finals with a dominant first-half display led by Raphinha and Lamine Yamal.
Raphinha netted either side of a stunning Yamal strike as the Catalans dominated in the first half, building on their 1-0 last-16, first-leg win in Lisbon.
Nicolas Otamendi had quickly levelled Raphinha’s opener, but the visitors were blown away at the Olympic Stadium as Barcelona progressed comfortably from the tie and produced some moments of brilliant attacking football.
Hansi Flick’s side will face Borussia Dortmund or Lille in the quarter-finals as they aim to win the competition for the first time since 2015 and the era of Lionel Messi, Neymar, and Luis Suarez.
“We are candidates to win everything,” Raphinha told Movistar, with the club in the hunt for a potential treble.
Barcelona are unbeaten in 17 matches in 2025.
“It’s good that the players think about that (winning everything), it shows they have confidence, they believe in what they are doing, but my job is to stay calm,” said Flick.
Flick had said Barça would play for late club doctor Carles Minarro, who died suddenly on Saturday ahead of the team’s match against Osasuna, which was postponed, and the players observed a silence in his honour before kick-off.
“What happened made us arrive at this game even more determined to win,” added Raphinha.
“We won for us, and Carles is always with us… he always has a place (here),” said Flick.
Five-time Champions League winners Barça took the lead after 11 minutes when Spain international Yamal burst into the area, chopped his way past Florentino, and then mishit the ball across to Raphinha for a simple finish.
Benfica levelled within two minutes when Otamendi escaped Ronald Araújo to head home from a corner.
Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny excelled in the first leg as the Catalans claimed an impressive win with 10 men after Pau Cubarsí’s red card but might have done more to keep out Otamendi’s effort.
However, Barcelona, and particularly their wingers Yamal and Raphinha, were in sensational form and quickly reclaimed their lead.
‘Dynamite’
Yamal netted his first goal in seven matches, but it was worth the wait, with the 17-year-old cutting in from the right and arcing a sensational shot past Anatoliy Trubin and in at the far post from the edge of the box.
“His goal was spectacular, it shows what Lamine is — he’s a spectacular player with tremendous quality,” said Raphinha.
Raphinha grabbed his second before the break to give Barcelona a three-goal aggregate lead after a blistering run by Alejandro Balde.
The left-back won the ball back in his area and sliced open the Portuguese team on the counter, carrying it to the edge of Benfica’s area before teeing up Raphinha.
It was the winger’s 11th strike of the competition, and he leads the scoring charts, while he also has 27 across all competitions after netting 10 in each of his first two seasons since joining from Leeds United.
“We have dynamite up front, and we have to take advantage of it,” said Barça midfielder Pedri.
Bruno Lage’s side were without injured veteran Ángel Di María, but even with him, beating Flick’s Barça in this form would have been a difficult ask.
Fredrik Aursnes netted for Benfica in the second half, but the goal was disallowed for offside against Vangelis Pavlidis, who scored a hat-trick as Barça won 5-4 in their first meeting this season, in the league stage in January.
For the most part, Benfica struggled to trouble Szczęsny, and Barcelona came close to scoring a fourth when Frenkie de Jong poked wide on the stretch at the end of a razor-sharp team move.
Barcelona now await their quarter-final opponent and can start preparing to visit Atlético Madrid in La Liga on Sunday, in a huge clash in the Spanish title race.
Benfica are left to focus on the Portuguese top flight, where they are second behind Sporting Lisbon.
“We’re left with a feeling of frustration, we could have done better in both games,” Lage told SportTV.
