Barcelona vs Benfica facts

Barcelona are aiming for a third win this season against Benfica as they look to seal progress in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie.

The Spanish side were 5-4 winners in Lisbon on Matchday 7 and overcame the 22nd-minute dismissal of defender Pau Cubarsí to triumph 1-0 in the first leg of this tie thanks to a 61st-minute strike from Raphinha, who had also scored twice in the league phase victory at Benfica, including a last-gasp winner.

Previous meetings

Matches 11
Barcelona wins 5
Benfica wins 2
Draws 4
Barcelona goals 14
Benfica goals 11

1961 European Cup final
Benfica 3-2 Barcelona
Bela Guttmann's Benfica prevailed in Bern to claim their first European Cup. Although Sándor Kocsis put the Blaugrana ahead, Benfica hit back through José Águas, an Antoni Ramallets own goal and Mário Coluna before Zoltán Czibor's strike.

1991/92 European Cup group stage
Benfica 0-0 Barcelona
Barcelona 2-1 Benfica
Barcelona secured their place in the final – and went on to claim their first European Cup – against Sven-Göran Eriksson's Benfica in the concluding round of matches in the inaugural group stage. Hristo Stoichkov and José María Bakero scored for Johan Cruyff's side, with Brito replying.

2005/06 Champions League quarter-finals
Benfica 0-0 Barcelona
Barcelona 2-0 Benfica
Barcelona's second European Cup followed a quarter-final defeat of a Benfica team led by former Barça defender, and future coach, Ronald Koeman. Second-leg goals from Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto'o took Frank Rijkaard's team through.

2012/13 Champions League group stage
Benfica 0-2 Barcelona
Barcelona 0-0 Benfica
Goals from Alexis Sánchez and Cesc Fàbregas earned Barcelona victory in Lisbon on Matchday 2, the Camp Nou return on Matchday 6 finishing goalless, with Barcelona first in the section and Benfica third.

2021/22 Champions League group stage
Benfica 3-0 Barcelona
Barcelona 0-0 Benfica
Darwin Núñez scored either side of a Rafa Silva effort as Benfica claimed their first win against Barcelona since the 1961 final; a goalless draw at the Camp Nou on Matchday 5 helped the Portuguese side progress to the last 16 ahead of their opponents.

2024/25 Champions League league phase
Benfica 4-5 Barcelona
A Vangelis Pavlidis hat-trick in the first-half hour helped Benfica to lead 3-1 and 4-2, but Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha both scored twice for Barcelona, the Brazilian's second in the 96th minute snatching a remarkable victory.

Form guide

Barcelona

Record vs Portuguese clubs: W21 D5 L7 F59 A31
Home record vs Portuguese clubs: W12 D2 L1

Barcelona played Porto in last season's group stage, winning 1-0 away and 2-1 at home.

The 2021 defeat at Benfica is the Blaugrana's only loss in their last 22 matches against Portuguese opponents, home and away (W17 D4), since a 1-0 reverse at Belenenses in the 1987/88 UEFA Cup first round.

Barça have won 12 of their 15 home games against Portuguese visitors, losing only the first – 0-1 against Porto in 1972 – although they have drawn two of the last four.

The Spanish side's last knockout meeting against Portuguese opponents was that 2006 quarter-final win against Benfica – making their record in those two-legged contests W6 L1 with victories in the last six.

Last season Barcelona were 4-2 aggregate winners against Napoli at this stage (1-1 a, 3-1 h), making it 15 wins in 18 round of 16 ties.

Barcelona have won only nine of their last 21 home European games, losing six, but have scored 14 goals in their four fixtures this season, beating Young Boys (5-0), Bayern München (4-1) and Brest (3-0) before a 2-2 draw against Atalanta.

The Blaugrana were eliminated by Paris Saint-Germain in last season's quarter-finals (3-2 a, 1-4 h), just the third time in 40 UEFA ties they had lost the tie after an away first-leg victory. Eight of those aggregate victories came after a 1-0 first-leg away win, although they were beaten by Köln in the 1980/81 UEFA Cup second round (0-4 h).

Barcelona's record in six UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W5 L1:
5-4 v AZ Alkmaar, 1977/78 UEFA Cup second round
3-1 v Ipswich Town, 1977/78 UEFA Cup third round
4-1 v Anderlecht, 1978/79 European Cup Winners' Cup second round
5-4 v IFK Göteborg, 1985/86 European Cup semi-final
0-2 v Steaua Bucureşti, 1985/86 European Cup final
5-4 v Lech Poznań, 1988/89 European Cup Winners' Cup second round

Benfica

Record vs Spanish clubs: W8 D9 L15 F40 A48
Away record vs Spanish clubs: W2 D3 L8

A 4-0 win against Atlético de Madrid on Matchday 2 is one of only three victories in Benfica's last 24 games against Spanish sides (D8 L13), since a 2-1 victory at Real Betis on 29 September 1982.

Benfica also won 2-1 at Atlético de Madrid in the 2015/16 Champions League group stage; that and the 1982 success at Betis are Benfica's only wins in their 13 away games against Liga clubs.

Benfica have not played a two-legged knockout tie against Spanish opponents since losing 1-3 on aggregate against Getafe in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup round of 16 (1-2 h, 0-1 a). That made their two-legged record against Liga teams W2 L5, with defeats in the last four.

Benfica have suffered only six losses in their last 29 European games outside Lisbon (W14 D9) although four of those defeats have come in the last 11. They won at Crvena Zvezda (2-1), Monaco (3-2) and Juventus (2-0) in this season's league phase in addition to a 1-0 loss at Bayern München, before a 1-0 success at Monaco in the knockout phase play-off first leg.

The Portuguese side have won five of their six round of 16 ties, most recently beating Club Brugge in 2022/23 (2-0 a, 5-1 h).

Benfica have lost the first leg at home in UEFA competition on seven previous occasions, and went on to suffer an aggregate defeat six times, their only aggregate success against Dinamo Bucureşti in the first round of the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup (0-1 h, 2-0 a). On the only other occasion they went down 0-1 in the home opener, against Chelsea in the 2011/12 Champions League quarter-finals, they were beaten 2-0 away.

Benfica's record in five UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W2 L3:
4-1 v Torpedo Moskva, 1977/78 European Cup first round
5-6 v PSV Eindhoven, 1987/88 European Cup final
4-1 v PAOK, 1999/2000 UEFA Cup second round
2-4 v Sevilla, 2013/14 Europa League final
2-4 v Marseille, 2023/24 Europa League quarter-final

Links and trivia

Has played in Portugal:
Raphinha (Vitória SC 2015–18, Sporting CP 2018/19)

Before Matchday 7 Raphinha had played 12 times against Benfica, winning just one, drawing one and losing ten. His only previous goal came in Sporting's 3-1 defeat in the 2017 Portuguese Super Cup final.

Have played in Spain:
Nicolás Otamendi (Valencia 2014/15)
Álvaro Carreras (Deportivo de La Coruña youth 2012–17, Real Madrid youth 2017–20, Granada 2023)
Florentino (Getafe 2021/22 loan)
Ángel Di María (Real Madrid 2010–14)

Di María's record against Barcelona for Real Madrid was W5 D4 L7.

Have played together:
Eric García & Nicolás Otamendi (Manchester City 2018–20)
Robert Lewandowski & Renato Sanches (Bayern München 2016/17, 2018/19)
Iñaki Peña & Kerem Aktürkoğlu (Galatasaray 2022)
Wojciech Szczęsny & Ángel Di María (Juventus 2022/23)

International team-mates:
Andreas Christensen & Alexander Bah (Denmark)
Pau Cubarsí, Fermín López, Pablo Torre & Álvaro Fernández (Spain Under-21)

Lewandowski scored seven goals in six appearances against Benfica while at Bayern, including a hat-trick in a 5-2 win in the 2021/22 group stage.

António Silva scored past Szczęsny in Benfica's 4-3 victory over Juventus in the 2022/23 Champions League group stage.

Benfica's winter signing Andrea Belotti has scored three Serie A goals past Szczęsny – two for Torino against Roma and once against Juventus.

Latest news

Barcelona

Barcelona's match against Osasuna on Saturday was postponed shortly before kick-off after the death of the club's first-team doctor Carles Minarro Garcia.

On 2 March Barcelona had gone top of La Liga with a 4-0 win at home to ten-man Real Sociedad, making it six successive league victories.

Barcelona have scored 125 goals in 41 matches across all competitions this season. They have hit five goals or more in 11 matches, and scored four in a further seven.

Robert Lewandowski has 11 goals in 13 matches in 2025 and 34 goals this season – more than any player from the top five European leagues and his most prolific campaign for Barcelona, surpassing his 33 in 2022/23.

Barcelona are unbeaten in 2025 in 16 matches across all competitions (W13 D3).

Raphinha's first-leg winner was his 25th goal this season having managed ten in 2023/24. His 13 in La Liga is seven more than last season.

Wojciech Szczęsny has eight clean sheets in 14 Barcelona games in all competitions.

Gavi missed the win at Benfica due to a fever.

Andreas Christensen has not played since 17 August due to an Achilles injury; having returned to the squad, he suffered a muscular injury at the end of January.

Marc Bernal (out since 27 August) and Marc-André ter Stegen (22 September) are not expected to play again this season after suffering serious knee injuries.

Benfica

Defeat against Barcelona ended Benfica's eight-match unbeaten run in all competitions – seven of them victories. They returned to winning ways with a 3-0 home win against Nacional on Saturday.

Vangelis Pavlidis scored the third and also got the only goal at home to Braga in the Portuguese Cup quarter-finals on 26 February; he has 12 in 12 appearances in all competitions.

Benfica will played fourth division Tirsense in the Portuguese Cup semi-finals with the first leg scheduled for 1 April.

Angél Di María (out since 12 February) and Florentino (15 February) have been sidelined by thigh injuries, although the latter was an unused substitute on Saturday.

Alexander Bah and Manu Silva are expected to miss the rest of the season having both suffered knee injuries against Moreirense on 8 February.

Out since 24 August with a dislocated shoulder, striker Tiago Gouveia underwent knee surgery in January.