Match winner Raphinha said Benfica insults sparked a scuffle in the tunnel after his stoppage-time goal earned Barcelona a remarkable 5-4 comeback win at the Estádio da Luz in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Raphinha’s 96th-minute strike was just one part of a sensational ending in the pouring Lisbon rain, with Benfica coach Bruno Lage then dressing his players down on the pitch at full time after they had led 3-1 and 4-2.
The drama continued as the players headed down the tunnel, with Raphinha at the center of the commotion as both teams clashed.
“I’m someone who respects everyone,” Raphinha, who previously played for Benfica’s rivals Sporting CP, told reporters after the game. “When I was leaving the pitch, people were insulting me. I returned the insults. I know I shouldn’t. It got heated with the Benfica players … they preferred to insult me.
“I’m someone who doesn’t let anything lie. I respect them if they respect me, but I don’t shut up if they insult me. It’s normal after an ending like that to a match.”
A barely believable night had preceded those events, with Raphinha saying he’s in the best form of his career after scoring twice as Barça made it six successive wins in the Champions League to book their passage directly to the round of 16.
Raphinha’s winner was his eighth in Europe this season — only bettered by teammate Robert Lewandowski’s nine — and took his tally in all competitions for the campaign to a career-high 22.
“I think I am in the best moment of my career, yes,” the Brazilian international added. “We knew it would be hard here, we knew how good they were, especially playing in front of their fans, their players individually and as a team, but what matters is that we knew to keep our focus during the entire game.
“We had the mindset that we could turn the game around after the break, scoring a second to get back into the game and we managed to do it in the end. We never gave up and grabbed a win.”
Benfica had earlier taken advantage of several Barça mistakes to lead 3-1 at half-time courtesy of a hat trick from Vangelis Pavlidis.
The Greece international opened the scoring in the second minute and completed his treble inside half an hour after Lewandowski had briefly levelled from the penalty spot.
Pavlidis rolled his second goal into an empty net after goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny had taken out his own defender, Alejandro Balde, when coming for the ball.
He then completed his hat trick with a penalty after Szczęsny fouled Kerem Aktürkoğlu.
“It was a crazy game,” Barça coach Hansi Flick said in a news conference. “Benfica did really well, especially in the first half, but we made a lot of mistakes. We didn’t defend very good.
“It’s important we speak about this. The next opponents will look at this match and we have to make it better. We will do that.
“At half-time we said we wanted to change something; we need better positioning. And we said we want to come back.”
Another goalkeeping error gave Barça a route back into the game, with Anatoliy Trubin’s drilled pass ricocheting off Raphinha’s head 20 yards out and rebounding back into the goal.
A Ronald Araújo own goal looked to have sealed the points for Benfica, but a second Lewandowski penalty and an Eric García header inside the final 12 minutes set up a grandstand finish as both sides went all out for the win.
Szczęsny made a super save from Ángel Di María and minutes later, as Benfica appealed for a penalty, Raphinha was sent through at the other end to seal the win.
“The best thing is the mentality of the team in the second half, they always believe in themselves,” Flick added. “It’s unbelievable. I was happy with one point, but with three it’s much better. It was a great finish. We invest a lot in the second half, we create more chances and we deserved it.”
The victory means Barça have booked their place in the round of 16 with a game to spare, at home to Italian side Atalanta next week.
Therefore, they dodge two extra fixtures in February, when teams that finish between 9th and 24th will take place in a two-legged knockout tie for a place in the round of 16.
“Reaching directly the final 16, this will help us a lot for the rest of the season, I am 100% sure about that,” Flick said. “The most important thing is we need time to train. This is very important. You can see in the match we are making mistakes, but there is no opportunity to train things in the two days or one day we have.
“It’s all about recovery, getting back the energy and to be fit for match day. For the players it’s really tough.”
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