Historic: The brutal 'survival' record of Barça in the Champions League

The victory of FC Barcelona against Benfica is as important as it is heroic. The team led by Hansi Flick achieved a key victory at the Estádio da Luz (1-0) that leaves them with one foot and a half in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, as the return leg of the round of 16 will take place at Montjuïc. However, to achieve such a feat, the Catalans had to 'row against the current' for a large part of the match against the 'eagles'.

Indeed, at the 22nd minute, Pau Cubarsí left the team with 10 players on the field after being sent off for a reckless tackle on Vangelis Pavlidis. The Greek forward was breaking away to face Sczcesny and the center-back threw himself to the ground to cut off the action, but ended up bringing him down at the edge of the area without touching the ball, and Felix Zwayer, the main referee of the match, did not hesitate to show him the red card.

Thus, just before the halfway point of the first half, the Catalans were left with a numerical disadvantage and more than 70 minutes to play, but a stunning goal to remember from Raphinha and a memorable performance from Wojciech Szczesny ultimately gave a crucial victory to a Barça that managed to survive in the midst of a completely discouraging scenario, being this the definitive show of character of a team with the heart of a champion.

Barça made history in the Champions League

This feat achieved in Lisbon allowed the Catalans to enter the golden books of the Champions League, as for the first time in the entire history of the tournament, a team has managed to win an away match despite playing 69+ minutes with one player less on the field.

A record that previously belonged to Juventus, which defeated Valencia at Mestalla (0-2) in the group stage of the 2018-2019 season after Cristiano Ronaldo saw the red card in the 29th minute of the match. Miralem Pjanic, a former Barça player, was responsible for that feat by scoring two penalty goals, although that record now has a blue and garnet color.

This season, Barça had already suffered an early expulsion in the Champions League. It was in matchday 1, when Eric García was sent off against Monaco in the 11th minute. However, the Principality team took advantage and ended up winning the match (2-1), which has so far been the only blue and garnet defeat in the tournament. Against Benfica, fortunately, the course of the match was completely opposite.