Emre Asikci
22 January 2025•Update: 22 January 2025
ISTANBUL
A late goal from Raphinha sealed a 5-4 win for Barcelona over Benfica in a nine-goal thriller in UEFA Champions League matchday seven Tuesday.
Benfica opened the scoring in the second minute when Vangelis Pavlidis found the net with a close-range finish, assisted by Alvaro Carreras at Estadio do SL Benfica.
Robert Lewandowski equalized for the opposition by converting a penalty kick in the 13th minute.
Benfica regained the lead as Pavlidis completed his hat-trick with goals in the 22nd and 30th minutes, the latter coming from a penalty, extending their advantage.
In the 64th minute, Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin's attempted clearance struck Raphinha on the head and rebounded into the net from outside the box, making it 3-2.
Benfica doubled the lead after Ronald Araujo scored an own goal in the 68th minute, but Lewandowski converted the penalty again to make it 4-3 in the 78th minute.
Barca equalized the game when Eric Garcia scored with a header in the 86th minute.
Rafinha put the ball into Benfica's net on a counterattack in the 96th minute -- the winning goal.
With the result, Barcelona are second with 18 points and Benfica are 18th with 10 points.
Tuesday's results:
Atalanta - Sturm Graz: 5-0
Monaco - Aston Villa: 1-0
Slovan Bratislava - Stuttgart: 1-3
Club Brugge - Juventus: 0-0
Atletico Madrid - Bayer Leverkusen: 2-1
Benfica - Barcelona: 4-5
Liverpool - Lille: 2-1
Bologna - Borussia Dortmund: 2-1
Crvena zvezda - PSV: 2-3
