Barcelona manager Hansi Flick is proud of his team’s performance after they defeated Benfica with 10 men in Wednesday night’s UEFA Champions League round of 16 first-leg tie in Lisbon, Afrosport reports.
The Blaugrana were reduced to 10 men after 22 minutes when Pau Cubarsi brought down Vangelis Pavlidis.
Barca were able to remain resolute defensively despite the numerical disadvantage and had their breakthrough via Raphinha’s brilliant strike in the 61st minute.
“You know, such a match in 95 or 100 minutes to go, to play, I think it’s for everyone – for the fans, for the players, but also for the coaches – not easy to handle. And I am very proud, I am very happy about my team, they did really fantastic,” Flick said after the game.
“And of course, what I said to them ‘Chapeau, I am very proud’ because we managed this match really good. After the 22 minutes with 10 players, it was not easy, and we did really good. And this is a big win for us, but we know that we also have to play the next match and Benfica is doing good. It’s a good team and we have to take care about that.”
1- Pau Cubarsí
has suffered his first red card for @FCBarcelona in all competitions (65 games). At 18 years and 42 days old, he is the second youngest player to be sent off in #UCL history after Celestine Babayaro in 1994 (16 years and 86 days). Red. pic.twitter.com/ykHJM7R66H
— OptaJose (@OptaJose) March 5, 2025
Meanwhile, Benfica boss Bruno Lage rued his side’s missed opportunity to capitalise on their advantage at home but still believes they can go to Barcelona in the second leg and get the desired result.
“It was a good football match. We started the match and after 20 seconds we had a chance to score. And we ended the match with several chances but we didn’t manage to score,” the Portuguese stated.
“The tie is still open. This was what we were expecting. I am not satisfied with the result, but we already turned the page. The players have to recover in order to perform well and score already against Nacional [in the Portuguese league] and then with a huge ambition to go to Barcelona and win and move forward in the competition.”
The winner of next Tuesday’s second leg will face either Borussia Dortmund or Lille in the quarter-finals.
