Barcelona edge nine-goal thriller at Benfica after controversial Raphinha winner

Raphinha scored in the sixth minute of stoppage time as Barcelona came from 4-2 down to beat Benfica 5-4 in a remarkable Champions League match in which Vangelis Pavlidis scored a hat-trick inside 30 minutes for the hosts only to end on the losing side.

Robert Lewandowski’s penalty cancelled out Pavlidis’ second-minute effort, but the Greece forward capitalised on a bizarre mistake from Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny before scoring his own penalty in the 30th minute, the third fastest hat-trick in Champions League history.

But the drama kept coming as Raphinha somehow headed Barcelona back into it when Anatoliy Trubin’s clearance struck him and looped in. Four minutes later an own goal from Ronald Araujo restored Benfica’s cushion but not for long.

Lewandowski tucked in another penalty with 12 minutes left, and with time ticking down Eric Garcia headed in a fourth for Barca.

And it was still not over. Deep into stoppage time Benfica wanted a penalty, claiming a push on Leandro Barreiro, but instead Raphinha raced to the other end, cut in from the right, and fired under Trubin – with the goal eventually standing after a long VAR check on the spot-kick claim.

There was a furious reaction from Benfica after the final whistle, with unused substitute Arthur Cabral sent off on the bench before boss Bruno Lage appeared to berate his players on the pitch.

The result is enough to send Barcelona through to the next phase of the competition, still second in the standings, but Benfica’s own hopes suffered a massive blow.

Benfica stunned Barcelona two minutes in when Tomas Araujo found Alvaro Carreras in space down the left and the former Manchester United full-back’s low ball was swept home first time by Pavlidis.

Fredrik Aursnes spurned a superb chance to double the lead moments later, again played in by Carreras, and that allowed Lewandowski to level from the spot in the 13th minute after VAR intervened following a challenge from Tomas Araujo on Alejandro Balde.

The game changed again with a howler from Szczesny who, having got the nod over Inaki Pena in the Barcelona goal, came charging out of his box and collided with Balde, leaving Pavlidis with the simple task of walking the ball into an empty net.

Szczesny was at fault again when he came off the line and took out Marc Casado to concede a penalty which allowed Pavlidis to complete his hat-trick.

Trubin made a good save to deny Pedri just after the hour, only to concede a remarkable goal seconds later, with the goalkeeper’s clearance going straight to Raphinha who reacted instantly to head it back into the net.

Within five minutes Benfica’s two-goal lead was restored. Pavlidis over-hit his cross but Andreas Schjelderup sent it back in and Ronald Araujo poked it into his own net.

Carreras tugged back Lamine Yamal to allow Lewandowski to get his second from the spot and with four minutes left, Garcia headed in Pedri’s cross to level.

But this incredible game was still not done as Raphinha broke Benfica’s hearts while the arguments raged all around him.