Barcelona secured a remarkable 3-1 victory over Benfica in the second leg, with a 4-1 aggregate win, ensuring their place in the Champions League quarter-finals.
The Catalan team delivered a magical display of football in this match, dominating proceedings and achieving a deserved result that boosted their ambitions in the tournament. Barcelona now awaits the winner of the match between Lille and Borussia Dortmund in the next round.
According to information from the Spanish newspaper ‘‘El Nacional‘‘, despite this impressive qualification, Barcelona duo Lamine Yamal and Rafinha could not hide their deep anger after the match regarding the performance of the team’s star player, Polish striker Robert Lewandowski.
The duo believed that Lewandowski was responsible for missing several clear scoring opportunities, in addition to his lack of fitness and energy to implement the high-pressing style adopted by coach Hansi Flick.
Yamal and Rafinha stressed the need to exclude Lewandowski from the starting lineup in the upcoming matches, asserting that he has become a burden on the team. They told Hansi Flick after the match, “We don’t want to see him on the pitch again,” referring to his poor performance against Benfica. These statements raise many questions about Lewandowski’s future in Barcelona’s starting lineup in the coming period.