Barcelona vs Benfica, Champions League Round of 16: Final Score 3-1 (4-1 agg), Lamine Yamal and Raphinha shine as Barça cruise to quarterfinals

Barcelona are officially through to the quarterfinals of this season’s UEFA Champions League thanks to a 3-1 victory over Benfica in the second leg of their Round of 16 tie at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium on Tuesday evening. Barça were the better team from start to finish and cruised to a comfortable win at home, with Lamine Yamal and Raphinha putting on a show to lead the Blaugrana to the Last Eight.

FIRST HALF

Before the game began there was a minute’s silence for the late Dr. Carles Miñarro, and what followed was an inspired first half performance by the players he used to take care of. Barça were simply sensational in the opening period, dominating from the first whistle with control of possession and sharp passing and movement in the final third.

They took the lead 10 minutes in thanks to a brilliant individual move by Lamine Yamal that ended with a somewhat accidental assist by the teenager to Raphinha who scored a nice volley, but Benfica equalized immediately through a corner-kick that was headed home by Nicolás Otamendi.

Barça treated the equalizer as a mere hiccup, however, and quickly went back to having all of the ball, dominating the action and creating real danger. Yamal was simply unplayable on the wing, and he scored a spectacular curling shot into the top corner to give the lead back to the home team shortly before the half-hour mark.

The Catalans continued to apply pressure and Robert Lewandowski missed a huge one-on-one chance to double the lead, but the third goal came shortly after thanks to an incredible play by Alejandro Balde: the left-back won the ball back inside his own box and ran 80 yards down the field before finding Raphinha, who smashed it into the bottom corner to triple Barça’s advantage in the aggregate score.

At halftime the Blaugrana were comfortably ahead in the game and in the tie thanks to a brilliant first half, and all they needed to do was finish the job in the final period and cruise to the quarterfinals.

SECOND HALF

Barça’s job in the second half was to manage the game against a desperate Benfica team that would be more aggressive fighting for their European lives, and the hosts did that job well.

Benfica did have a few moments of potential danger but never created a true goal-scoring chance, and Wojciech Szczesny was up to the task when called into action a couple of times.

Bruno Lage made his team very attacking in the final minutes when he changed to a 4-2-4 formation with two big strikers up front, but even that didn’t do much to bother a solid and poised Barça defense.

The Catalans cruised to the finish and the final whistle came to confirm their spot in the quarterfinals, and this was certainly a lot easier than expected thanks to a very impressive performance in the first half.

Barça played some beautiful football to clinch the tie in 45 minutes, and they honored Dr. Miñarro with an inspired game that would definitely make him proud.

This one’s for you, Doc. Rest in peace.

Barcelona: Szczesny; Kounde, Araujo, Iñigo (Eric 87’), Balde; De Jong (Casadó 81’), Pedri; Yamal (Fermín 81’), Olmo (Gavi 70’), Raphinha; Lewandowski (Ferran 70’)

Goals: Raphinha (11’, 42’), Yamal (27’)

Benfica: Trubin; Araújo (Rego 84’), Silva, Otamendi, Dahl; Aursnes, Florentino (Barreiro 70’), Kökçü (Belotti 70’); Aktürkoglu (Sanches 56’), Pavlidis, Schjelderup (Amdouni 56’)

Goal: Otamendi (13’)