THE MATCH OF RECORDS !
Picture : Raphinha played his career best season, he was again the match winner in Lisbon !
Benfica vs Barcelona 4-5: match of records
The Lisbon’s thriller, one of brightest ever in UCL history, was extremely rich on record and remarkable events.
*It is the first ever 5-4 score (regardless away or at home) in the history of the Champions League.
*It is just the 2nd match that ended with 4-5 away win in any European competition, after:
Valletta vs Rijeka 4-5 on 24 August 2008 (UEFA Cup, qualifying round).
*It is Barça's 4th 5-4 victory as a visitor in all official competitions, after:
Europe vs Barça 4-5 in the 1923 Regional (Catalan) Championship,
Levante vs Barça 4-5 in La Liga in 1963,
Deportivo vs Barça 4-5 in La Liga in 2012.
*Barcelona are just the second team to win a Champions League match despite conceding 4+ goals, after famous Borussia Dortmund’s 8-4 win over Legia Warsaw on 22 November 2016.
*For the first time, Barcelona have won a Champions League match they were losing by two goals (1-3, then 2-4).
*Barcelona are the first ever visiting team in the history of the Champions League to reach the 75th minute with a 2-goal deficit and end up winning the match.
*Barcelona has conceded 15(!) goals in their last 3 games at Estadio da Luz in Lisbon (along with 2-8 vs Bayern on 14 August 2020 and 0-3 vs Benfica on 29 September 2021).
*Barcelona conceded 4 goals in a match of the group or league stage of the Champions League for the 2nd time in their history after 5 November 1997 (0-4 vs Dynamo Kyiv).
*Barcelona won six UCL games in a row for the first time since 2015.
*In every one of these 6 games, Barcelona scored 3+ goals. This is 3rd such streak in UCL history.
Bayern linked 6 games with 3+ goals in each in 2019-20 (also under Hansi Flick!).
Manchester City hold the record: 9 games with 3+ goals in a row in 2023-24,
*Between Bayern Munich and Barcelona, Hansi Flick has won 88% of his matches as a coach in the Champions League (21 out of 24); the highest winning percentage by a coach who had at least 10 matches in the competition.
*Vangelis Pavlidis’ hat-trick for Benfica is the 3rd fastest scored from the start of a Champions League game (30 minutes), after:
Robert Lewandowski for Bayern vs Red Bull Salzburg in 2022 (23 minutes),
Marco Simone for Milan vs Rosenborg in 1996 (24 minutes).
*Pavlidis is the first rival to score a hat-trick against Barça in the first half hour of an official match since Catanha (with Celta) achieved it in La Liga on 2 December 2000 (he scored 3 goals in the first 26 minutes; the match ended with a 3-3 draw).
*Pavlidis is the 4th player to score a Champions League hat-trick against Barcelona, after:
Faustino Asprilla (for Newcastle in 1997),
Andriy Shevchenko (for Milan in 1997),
Kylian Mbappé (for PSG in 2021).
*Three other players scored a hat-trick against Barcelona before UCL era and in other European competitions:
Vicente Guillot with Valencia in 1962 (Fairs Cup),
Tony Kurbos with Metz in 1984 (Cup Winners' Cup),
Juary with Porto in 1985 (European Cup).
*Pavlidis is the 5th player who lost a Champions League match after scoring a hat-trick, after:
Ronaldo with Real Madrid away vs Manchester United (2003),
Gareth Bale with Tottenham away vs Milan (2010),
Irfan Kahveci with Basaksehir at home against RB Leipzig (2020),
Christopher Nkunku with RB Leipzig away vs Manchester City (2021).
*The Pavlidis’ story is very similar to Milinko Pantić in the legendary Copa del Rey tie Barça vs Atletico on 12 March 1997: 3 goals for Atletico in the first 31 minutes of the game (then he scored also his 4th), but a 4-5 defeat of his team.
*The first of Pavlidis goals scored at 1 minute 48 seconds is Benfica's 2nd fastest in the Champions League, after Nicolás Gaitán’s against Galatasaray in 2015 (at 1 minute 6 seconds).
*Raphinha's first goal of his brace is just the 3rd headed goal from outside the area seen in a Champions League match, after:
Antonio Cassano, for Roma against Genk on 2 October 2002,
Roger Cañas, for Astana vs Galatasaray on 8 December 2015.
*Barça were last awarded 2 penalties away from home in the UCL in 1998 (vs Manchester United).
*Robert Lewandowski has scored his 18th and 19th goals from the penalty spot in the Champions League, equalling Cristiano Ronaldo’s record
of the competition.