Lamine Yamal and Raphinha dazzled as Barcelona thumped Benfica 3-1 on Tuesday, reaching the Champions League quarter-finals 4-1 on combination.
Raphinha netted both aspect of a shocking Yamal strike because the Catalans dominated within the first half, constructing on their 1-0 final 16, first leg win in Lisbon.
Nicolas Otamendi had rapidly levelled Raphinha’s opener however the guests have been blown away on the Olympic Stadium as Barcelona progressed comfortably from the tie and produced some moments of sensible attacking soccer.
Hansi Flick’s aspect will face Borussia Dortmund or Lille within the quarter-finals as they goal to win the competitors for the primary time since 2015 and the period of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez.
Flick stated Barca would play for late membership physician Carles Minarro, who died immediately on Saturday forward of the crew’s match towards Osasuna, which was postponed, and the gamers noticed a silence in his honour earlier than kick-off.
5-time winners Barca took the lead after 11 minutes when Spain worldwide Yamal burst into the realm, chopped his well past Florentino after which mishit the ball throughout to Raphinha for a easy end.
Benfica levelled inside two minutes when Otamendi escaped Ronald Araujo to go house from a nook.
Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny excelled within the first leg because the Catalans claimed a formidable win with 10 males after Pau Cubarsi’s purple card, however may need completed extra to maintain out Otamendi’s effort.
Nevertheless Barcelona, and significantly their wingers Yamal and Raphinha, have been in sensational type they usually rapidly reclaimed their lead.
Yamal netted his first aim in seven matches, but it surely was definitely worth the wait, with the 17-year-old chopping in from the proper and arcing a sensational shot previous Anatoliy Trubin and in on the far put up from the sting of the field.
Raphinha grabbed his second earlier than the break to offer Barcelona a three-goal combination lead after a blistering run by Alejandro Balde.
The left-back received the ball again in his space and sliced open the Portuguese crew on the counter, carrying it to the sting of Benfica’s space earlier than teeing up Raphinha.
It was the winger’s eleventh strike of the competitors and he leads the scoring charts.
Bruno Lage’s aspect have been with out injured midfielder Angel Di Maria however even with him beating Flick’s Barca on this type would have been a tough ask.
Fredrik Aursnes netted for Benfica within the second half however the aim was disallowed for offside towards Vangelis Pavlidis, who scored a hat-trick as Barca received 5-4 of their first assembly this season, within the league stage in January.
For essentially the most half Benfica struggled to hassle Szczesny, and Barcelona got here near scoring a fourth when Frenkie de Jong poked broad on the stretch on the finish of a razor-sharp crew transfer.
Barcelona now await their quarter-final opponent and may begin making ready to go to Atletico Madrid in La Liga on Sunday, in an enormous conflict within the Spanish title race.
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