Lamine Yamal stars as Barcelona cruise past Benfica in Champions League

Lamine Yamal turned in a glorious display and Raphinha netted twice as Barcelona brushed aside Benfica to breeze into the quarter-finals of the Champions League with a 4-1 aggregate win.

Leading 1-0 from the away leg, Hansi Flick’s side never looked like letting their Portuguese opponents turn things around as they ran out 3-1 winners at home.

Seventeen-year-old Lamal was a handful all evening at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium and set up the 10th-minute opener for Raphinha before Nicolas Otamendi hit back immediately.

Yamal regained the lead with a magnificent solo effort, culminating in a sublime curled finish from the edge of the area, and Raphinha was on hand again to wrap up the scoring before the break. The winner of Lille versus Borussia Dortmund awaits in the last eight.

Barca were the aggressors from the first moments, Pedri and Yamal both getting early shots away without really testing Anatoliy Trubin.

Yamal was brimming with energy, feeding Robert Lewandowksi in a good position in the 10th minute, before creating the opener at the next attempt. Attacking the danger area he bamboozled Luis Florentino and clipped a shot-turned-cross into the path of Raphinha, who lashed home at the first attempt.

Benfica, spurred on by the lively Samuel Dahl and with a couple of tight offsides going against them, wore the setback lightly as they mustered an instant reply. Winning a corner from the restart, they saw Andreas Schjelderup’s corner headed in from close range by Otamendi to level get back to level terms on the night.

The equaliser did nothing to dampen Yamal’s increasingly magnetic influence on the game as he came within inches of teeing up Lewandowski and then fashioned a shooting chance for himself only to miss the near post.

The game was still less than half-an-hour old when he got his goal, salvaging a loose ball, easing his burrowing past Tomas Araujo as he ducked in from the touchline and finishing was a gloriously deft curler into the top corner. The ball sailed past Turbin in apparent slow motion, measured to perfection.

In doing so he became the youngest player to register an assist and a goal in the same Champions League match.

The brilliance of the moment added a sense of finality but the Catalonians did not relent. Lewandowski lacking the requisite composure with a 12-yard shot before Raphinha stretched the lead with a low effort from Alex Balde’s assist.

Confusion reigned as the goal appeared to be ruled out, then confirmed, and Otamendi was cautioned then reprieved. What was certain, was Barca’s outright dominance.

With the tie seemingly settled the second half held lower stakes. Araujo went close with a header, Olmo showed plenty of intent to make things happen and Frenkie De Jong touched wide with the goal at his mercy.

Benfica held on for a second-half stalemate but that was about as much as they could hope for after being overwhelmed.