BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Raphinha scored twice and Lamine Yamal once as Barcelona advanced to the quarterfinals of the Champions League with a 3-1 win over Benfica on Tuesday.
The Catalan club advanced 4-1 on aggregate score after last week’s 1-0 victory and will play either Borussia Dortmund or Lille in the quarterfinals.
Raphinha’s double makes him the leading scorer in the Champions League this season with 11 goals. He had scored the lone goal last week in Lisbon.
The Brazil forward put Barcelona ahead in the 10th, then assisted in Yamal’s 27th-minute goal before adding his second in the 42nd.
Nicolás Otamendi scored for Benfica in the 13th to become the third-oldest scorer in a Champions League knockout game at the age of 37 years, 27 days, according to UEFA. Yamal’s goal meant he became the second-youngest at 17 years, 241 days, it added.
In other matches Tuesday, Paris Saint-Germain travels to Liverpool trailing 1-0 from the first leg. Inter Milan hosts Feyenoord on the back of a 2-0 away win in the first leg, and Bayern Munich travels to Bayer Leverkusen after beating its Bundesliga rival 3-0.
PSG the ‘most complete team’
After relying for years on the individual brilliance of big stars such as Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, PSG has changed its approach since Luis Enrique’s arrival and the new philosophy is bringing dividends since the turn of the year.
Striker Ousmane Dembele has emerged as a major force within a free-flowing system on offense. In attack, PSG plays with great fluidity and imagination, and a hard-working team defends as a unit.
In Paris last week, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson was the main reason behind his team’s smash-and-grab win. He made nine saves, compared to none for PSG’s Gianluigi Donnarumma.
“This is the most complete team we’ve faced so far,” Liverpool coach Arne Slot said about PSG. “Of course, we have played Arsenal, Real Madrid, Manchester City. But they have so much quality with a great coach. He let them play in a way that is not easy to play against, with an incredible work rate. That is why we have to be at our best.”
Leverkusen hoping for big comeback
Overturning a 3-0 deficit against Bayern Munich is a tall order, but also a big motivation for Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso.
“The mindset has to be that if there is a chance, we will fight for it,” he said. “We don’t give up so easily. Three goals? You never know. One goal can change anything.”
Alonso has good reasons to be confident since Bayern had gone six games without a win against Leverkusen prior to the first leg. History, however, is on Bayern’s side. The Munich club has made it to the last eight a record 22 times in the Champions League era.
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