FC Barcelona’s film “Never experienced a comeback like this before”

On By Littum

FC Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick admitted he has “never lived a comeback like this before” after the Catalans beat Benfica 5-4 in the Champions League on Tuesday to guarantee automatic qualification for the knockout stages of Europe’s elite competition.

Barca went 1-0 down inside two minutes and trailed by two goals twice at the Estadio da Luz, amid Greek striker Vangelis Pavlidis completing a first-half hat-trick in just over 30 minutes.

Raphinha made it 3-2 shortly after the break but there was another setback in quick succession as Ronald Araujo converted a cross into his own net past Wojciech Szczesny.

Down but not out, the Blaugrana were given hope by another Robert Lewandowski penalty before Eric Garcia beat Anatoliy Trubin with a header enabled by Pedri’s lovely cross.

Then in the 94th minute, Raphinha ran as if his life depended on meeting a thunderous Ferran Torres clearance out of Barca’s half and scored the winner.

And with the Brazilian admitting he is in the best moment of his career and will “kill and die for this team”, Flick made his own admissions after the full-time whistle.

“It was a crazy game. The best thing was the mentality. This is football. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a comeback like this,” he told Movistar.

Flick complimented Benfica, saying the Lisbon giants are “very good in transition” and chastised Barca.

“They forced us to defend very deep as we were not well positioned. The substitutions helped us a lot,” added Flick.

Although the penalty that allowed Pavlidis to complete his hat-trick was soft, Szczesny was certainly at fault for the second goal, misjudging a run out of the box and tapping into left-back Alejandro Balde, making it easy for the goalkeeper to give Benfica the lead again.

Asked about the Pole’s mistake, Flick asked a question himself.

“What player doesn’t make mistakes? We all make them. We win and lose together. I liked what I saw in the second half,” he said.

Not one to rest on his laurels, Flick said that “we are not thinking about being calm” just because passage to the last 16 has been granted.

“For us it is important to focus on Valencia (in La Liga) now and then Atalanta. We are not thinking about being calm. We also want to beat Atalanta,” he stressed.