Wojciech Szczesny weighs in on his performance in Barcelona's 5-4 comeback win over Benfica

Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has talked about his disappointing performance in La Blaugrana's 5-4 win over Benfica in the Champions League on Tuesday (January 21). It was quite the rollercoaster ride, as Barca edged the nine-goal thriller in second-half stoppage time through Raphinha's strike (90+6').

Szczesny made two errors that led to goals for Benfica. He came out too quickly for a ball over the top and collided with left-back Alejandro Balde. The ball fell to Vangelis Pavlidis, who stroked it into an empty net in the 22nd minute. The situation worsened when Szczesny recklessly tackled a Benfica player, leading to a penalty, which Pavlidis converted.

After the game, Szczesny explained that he shouted for Balde to leave the ball, but the defender didn't hear him. He told Canal+ (via Barca Universal):

“I think the moment of the exit was good, but Balde didn’t hear me... It was a misunderstanding, but it can happen because we were both going for the ball. I shouted and he didn’t hear me..."

Regarding the penalty, he added:

“On the pitch, it seemed to me that there had been no contact, but after watching the replay, it’s a penalty."

Szczesny opened up about playing with such a high defensive line, admitting that, despite his age, he is still learning:

"I’ve never played with such a high defence. Wenger demanded a lot from the goalkeeper, but here the players are very far from me. At 34, you can always learn. It’s a great experience."

It is worth noting that Wojciech Szczesny made two crucial saves to keep Barcelona in the game and eventually help them clinch the win.

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Incredible Barcelona comeback clinches win in Lisbon

Barcelona needed an impressive comeback to beat Benfica and take all three points in their Champions League outing in Lisbon. An early goal for Pavlidis put Benfica ahead (2'), although Robert Lewandowski equalized from the penalty spot (13').

Szczesny's howlers came to the fore, giving Pavlidis a hat-trick as he scored Benfica's second (22') and third (30') goals. Raphinha found the net to make it two for Barcelona (64'), but a Ronald Araujo own-goal restored Benfica's two-goal lead four minutes later (68').

However, Barcelona remarkably turned things around as Lewandowski scored another penalty (78') to make it 4-3 before Eric Garcia headed in a cross from Pedri to equalize (86'). Finally, it was a clutch moment from Raphinha that sealed the win for the Blaugrana (90+6').