Barcelona faced Benfica again in the round of 16 After their previous nine-goal thriller, this match was expected to deliver excitement—and it certainly did.

Barcelona had a strong start to the RO16 as 10 Men Barcelona defeated Benfica 0-1 in the first leg of the round of 16.

Benfica started smoothly with the first chance in the very starting seconds of the game but was saved by Wojciech Szczesny

Barcelona managed to control the game with Pedri, and Frenkie de Jong dispossessing the Benfica attack.

Trubins triple save was sensational!

All were denied their shots, first Olmo, Lewandowski and then Yamal. All three saves near the goal line.

Everything seemed going smoothly and strong for Barcelona and they were undoubtedly the better team after 20 minutes until the uncertainty happened.

Pavlidis took the ball upfront only to be taken out by Pau Cubarsi on the edge of the penalty area.

The referee wasted no time in showing the Barcelona defender a straight red.

A huge disadvantage for Barcelona as they have been reduced to 10 men.
Flick brought out Olmo replacing him with Araujo.

Amidst this chaos, Barcelona managed to hold their composure.

Just before the halftime whistle, Aktürkoglu found a cross at the far post which was saved by Szczesny.

Raphinha also had his chance but decided to pass when he needed to shoot it in.

There was a controversial moment when Barreiro stomped Inigo’s foot using his studs which was a clear foul but was only shown a yellow.

Barcelona appealed for a red card or at least a VAR check but was not paid heed to by the referee. However, Araujo and Inigo were shown yellow for complaining a bit too much to the referee.

Halftime saw a score of 0-0.

Benfica started the second half strong, getting hold of possession. Barças defence seemed off track with Carreras getting past Yamal several times.

Flick wasted no time correcting that.
Yamal was brought out with Ferran Torres replacing him.
Raphinha was shifted to the right wing which covered both flanks giving Balde some help at the left.

This change stabilised the defence even though they were one man down.

Goal!!!
Barcelona established dominance after Raphinha got the ball and gave a low shot as the ball found the back of the net putting the visitors one goal up.

Benfica was given a penalty as they attempted to equalise, but it was later ruled that the player was offside.

Just before the final whistle, Szczęsny produced a save in the closing minutes of the game while remaining resolute.

Szczęsny stepped up every single time Benfica posed a threat.
He was the wall of the team having saved a total of 8 shots and managed to keep a clean sheet.

Pedri worked his magic in the midfield keeping the ball in the small spaces available. He covered a total of 13.18km overall which was the highest distance covered in the match.

Pedri was awarded the MVP for his excellent performance.