The game was played in the first 45 minutes. Two records were set at the same time. 4 goals. With a Ramadan break. And there, the Portuguese club Benfica was devastated. Barcelona scored 3 goals in the first half at home. And that made them the first team to reach the quarter-finals of this year’s Champions League.
Rafinha scored a brace against Benfica. One goal was scored by Yamal. The only goal for Benfica was scored by Nicolas Otamendi. Barcelona won 3-1. And the two legs won 4-1 on aggregate. Barca is the first team to reach the last eight in this year’s Champions League. In the semi-finals, the team’s opponent will be the winner of the Dortmund-Lille match on Wednesday.
From the beginning of the match, the opponent did not give any concessions. And Lamine Yamal was the one who dominated Benfica the whole time. The 17-year-old Spanish star showed his magic in the 11th minute of the match. Yamal entered the box after beating several Benfica defenders and sent the ball to the other end with his left foot.
Rafinha was standing there in a completely empty space. The Brazilian, who has been in great form this season, did not make a mistake in sending the ball into the net. Benfica equalized shortly after. Nicolas Otamendi scored his first goal in the Champions League since 2017.
It did not take Barcelona even 15 minutes to take the lead. And that showed Yamal’s football talent once again. Yamal went very close to the touchline to take control of the ball. From there, he turned around and curled a shot from outside the D-box. That great goal may have been one of the best goals of the season.
Yamal also set a record with this goal. At 17 years and 241 days old, the Spanish winger is now the youngest footballer to score and assist in the same Champions League match. The record for goals and assists was set by Brill Embolo for FC Basel in 2014 at the age of 17 years and 263 days.
Rafinha also made his name in the record books tonight. That was in the 42nd minute of the match. Alejandro Balde dribbled the ball towards Rafinha after a great dribble. The Brazilian winger got his second goal.
This is his 11th goal in this season’s Champions League, the most of the season. No other Brazilian has scored more than 10 goals for any club in Champions League history in any year. Five, including Neymar and Rivaldo, have 10 goals each. Only Lionel Messi has been involved in more goals for Barcelona in the tournament than Rafinha. In the 2014-15 season, he had 14 goals and 5 assists.
This first-half performance almost secured Barcelona’s place in the quarter-finals. There were opportunities to increase the lead in the second half, but that didn’t happen.