Lisbon, March 6 (IANS) Raphinha scored the only goal as FC Barcelona played for 70 minutes with a player less to win 1-0 at Benfica in the first leg of its Champions League last-16 tie after being under pressure for virtually the entire 90 minutes.
The game started brightly with Kerem Akturkoglu seeing his first-minute shot saved by Barca goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, before Nicolas Otamendi had a shot blocked as Benfica started brightly.
At the other end, Dani Olmo fired just wide, before Barca was reduced to 10 men after just 22 minutes when Pau Cubarsi was sent off for bringing down Vangelis Pavlidis when he was the last defender, reports Xinhua.
Szczesny saved Orkun Kokcu’s free kick, while Barca coach Hansi Flick replaced Olmo with defender Ronald Araujo.
Raphinha had a good chance for Barca, while at the other end, Szczesny produced a reflex save to frustrate Pavlidis’ chance from close range.
The Barcelona goalkeeper made two more good saves early in the second half, before Ferran Torres replaced the tiring Lamine Yamal shortly before Raphinha put Barcelona ahead with a stunning shot into the bottom corner from well outside the area.
Benfica increased the pressure, but Szczesny was having his best game for Barcelona since joining last autumn and was virtually unbeatable, as shown by his flying stop to deny Renato Sanchez in the last minute.
Meanwhile, Liverpool substitute Harvey Elliot scored the only goal as Liverpool won 1-0 at Paris Saint-Germain, who deserved much more from a game they dominated almost from start to finish.
Elliot had been on the pitch for less than a minute when he took a pass from Darwin Nunez to score with a left-foot shot after his side had been under pressure for nearly the whole game.
PSG started strongly with Ousmane Dembele causing Liverpool a lot of problems down the right.
Following a corner won by Dembele, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia had the ball in the net with a wonderful curling shot, only for VAR to rule that he had strayed fractionally offside.
The home side were in complete control with Dembele and Kvaratskhelia seeing further efforts saved by Alisson Becker.
The script didn’t change much after the break, with PSG doing most of the attacking while Liverpool clung on. The Reds’ coach Arne Slot made a double change on 67 minutes with Nunez and Curtis Jones on for Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz.
Elsewhere, Inter Milan notched an excellent result with a 2-0 win away to Feyenoord. The only remaining Italian representatives in the Champions League took the lead when Marcus Thuram prodded home Nicolo Barella’s cross from close range.
Lautaro Martinez doubled Inter’s lead five minutes after the break when he took advantage of Piotr Zielinski’s assist, and Zielinski had the chance to wrap up the tie from the penalty spot, but Feyenoord goalkeeper Timon Wellenreuther got down well to save his spot kick.
In an all-German tie between Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen, Harry Kane put the home side ahead with a ninth-minute header from Michael Olise’s cross.
Jamal Musiala doubled Bayern’s lead in the 54th minute from close range, and Kane made it 3-0 from the penalty spot after he had been fouled by Edmond Tapsoba, leaving Leverkusen with a mountain to climb in the return leg.
–IANS
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