The Catalan giants were indebted to their Brazilian winger and the brilliance of Szczesny as they beat Benfica 1-0 on Wednesday evening.
Barcelona, with 10 men, put in a gritty, professional performance to beat Benfica 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie.
An electric opening quarter to the first half saw Wojciech Szczesny make an excellent save 30 seconds in, while Robert Lewandowski was denied by a brilliant double save from Anatoliy Trubin.
On 20 minutes, Benfica broke beyond Barca’s press and Pau Cubarsi brought down Vangelis Pavlidis on the edge of the box with a slide tackle. As the last man, Cubarsi was sent off by the referee, a decision that was upheld by VAR, and a free-kick was awarded.
Benfica repeatedly tested Szczesny but on the hour, 10-man Barca took the lead. Raphinha intercepted a loose ball in midfield, drove forward, and took aim from range, finding the bottom corner via a slight deflection.
Szczesny was fortunate to avoid giving away a late penalty, as he fouled Andrea Belotti in the box, but the Italian was ruled to be offside in the build-up as VAR gave the Pole a reprieve. He then made a superb late save to deny Renato Sanches at the death.
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