Barcelona has secured their spot in the Champions League quarter-finals stage after a commanding victory against SL Benfica at home. The Catalans won with a score of 3-1, 4-1 on aggregate, after Barcelona’s 1-0 win away from home last week. Here is a short analysis of Barcelona’s victory.
The Game
The game started with Barcelona showing early scoring intentions, leading to an attack in the 6th minute. It was Yamal with the weak and right at the Benfica goalie.
Yamal was sharp from the very start, at the 11th minute of the game Yamal dribbles through everybody with a fantastic fake shot and crosses to Raphinha who sidefoots it over the keeper for Barcelona’s first goal.
Not long after Barcelona’s goal, Benfica won a corner in the 13th minute. NicolĆ”s Otamendi scored a header from the set-piece at the back post off SzczÄsny’s hand. It was Ronald Araujo who left Otamendi unmarked which cost Barcelona a clean sheet.
In the 27th minute, Lamine Yamal scored a beautiful finesse shot filled with precision from out of the box into the far corner making it 2-1. Barcelona had the momentum in their hands and created more chances.
At the 41st minute, Lewandowski had a clear chance which he directly shot at the keeper and was saved. Just after that Benfica made a counter-attack which Barcelona safely cleared. Barcelona made a quick transition with Balde running with the ball and passed it on to Raphinha who scored in the far bottom and corner to make it 3-1 just before half-time.
Pedri and De Jong’s control in the midfield was brilliant, they controlled the possession game for Barcelona which led to key chances.
The majority of the second half was dominated by Barcelona with only a few chances which were in Barcelona’s favour.
Analysis
Barcelona played a brilliant game today, this is the performance that Barcelona fans want to see. The whole game was dominated by Barcelona, winning the defensive battles, the midfield battled, and taking on chances.
Hansi Flick once again proved that this side is a tough contender for the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona were solid defensively, the defence cleared the dangerous crosses staying away from any risk. Huge shout out to the fullbacks who pulled an absolute masterclass and avoided any silly passes.
Barcelona controlled the overall possession handling 65% of the ball, Pedri and De Jong were brilliant on the ball. Barcelona had overall 4 big chances in the game, 2 of them were taken by Raphinha and the other should’ve been in as well. Barcelona took 20 shots towards the goal with 6 being on the target.
The counter-attacking and quick transitions were well played. In the previous season, we witnessed Barcelona not being clinical enough in these games, this has certainly changed and Barcelona can go far in this competition this year.