Lamine Yamal and Raphinha sparkled for Barcelona again as Hansi Flick’s side dispatched Benfica to book their place in the Champions League quarter-finals.
After Barcelona and Benfica played out a ludicrous nine-goal thriller in the Champions League group stages, the two European sides were drawn to face each other again in the last 16.
Last week’s first leg was also dramatic as Barcelona played most of the match with ten men following Pau Cubarsi’s early red card. Despite this, Hansi Flick‘s side withstood heavy pressure and snatched a narrow win, with the prolific Raphinha netting the only goal.
This made Barcelona immense favourites heading into Tuesday night’s return leg and their lethal wide players made the difference – once again – as they added to their advantage.
Former Man City defender Nicolas Otamendi cancelled out Raphinha’s early opener, but the Brazil international netted his second after Yamal produced a moment of brilliance with a sublime finish from long range.
Benfica failed to mount a comeback as Barcelona sealed a 3-1 aggregate victory to book their place in the quarter-finals with a tie against Borussia Dortmund or Lille to come.
In the other quarter-final fixture on this half of the draw, there is a tasty matchup as Bayern Munich will face Serie A holders Inter Milan.
Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich – on paper at least – drew the short straw with their last 16 opponent as they were tasked with facing German rivals Bayer Leverkusen, who beat them to the Bundesliga title last season.
However, table-toppers Bayern Munich have an eight-point advantage over Leverkusen in the Bundesliga this season, and they surprisingly made light work of Xabi Alonso’s side in this round of the Champions League.
The contest was all but over after the first leg as Bayern Munich earned a shock 3-0 win at the Allianz Arena.
Harry Kane netted a brace in the first leg, and he moved up our ranking of the 2025 top scorers in Europe when he opened the scoring at Leverkusen after capitalising on a significant error from Patrik Schick.
This goal ended Leverkusen’s extremely slim hopes of a comeback before Alponso Davies added Bayern Munich’s second of the night and fifth on aggregate to seal an emphatic victory for the German giants.
Bayern Munich could have a tougher test in the quarter-finals as Inter Milan are considered potential dark horses in this year’s competition.
Unlike Bayern, Inter Milan did not have it all their way against Dutch side Feyenoord in the last 16, winning the first leg 2-1 on the road.
The return leg in Italy had the same outcome as Marcus Thuram and Hakan Calhanoglou netted either side of Jakub Moder’s leveller to secure a 4-1 aggregate win for Simone Inzaghi’s team.