Barcelona forward Raphinha said the passing of team doctor Carles Miñarro made the players even more intent on putting on a show against Benfica in the Champions League on Tuesday.
The Brazilian scored twice to take his tally for the season to 27 in all competitions as Barça won 3-1 at the Olympic Stadium on the night, advancing to the quarterfinal 4-1 on aggregate.
The victory came just three days after Miñarro had died in the hours before Saturday’s LaLiga game against Osasuna, which was subsequently postponed. The 53-year-old’s cause of death has not been officially announced.
“We came into this game even more determined to win after the passing of Carles,” Raphinha told reporters after the game.
Barça coach Hansi Flick also dedicated the success to Miñarro.
“I said before the match we wanted to honor the memory of Carles,” Flick said in the post game news conference. “After what happened, I think it’s good to win for him. Carles is always with us. It’s like that. He has always a place in our team.”
The Spanish, Catalan and Barça flags flew at half mast at the stadium to mark Miñarro’s passing, while a minute’s silence was observed before kickoff.
Barça then wrapped the tie up with three first-half goals as they extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 17 games and reached the last eight of the Champions League for the second successive season.
Raphinha opened the scoring early on after good work from Lamine Yamal, but Nicolás Otamendi immediately drew Benfica level from a corner.
Yamal restored Barça’s lead with a stunning individual effort, before Raphinha added the third on the stroke of halftime.
“I am really happy with that,” Flick said of his team’s display and their control in the second half. “Benfica are a really good team. I knew they make good transitions, but we control the ball, we control the game, we were dominant.
“This was good to see. I think we could score more goals, but we are happy that we are in the quarterfinal.”
Yamal’s goal made him the second youngest scorer in a Champions League knockout game at 17 years and 241 days old. Former Barça striker Bojan Krkic remains the youngest.
The brilliant curling effort from the edge of the box was his 12th of the campaign in all competitions, but his first in seven games.
“Great,” Flick added of Yamal ending his mini-drought. “I think everyone was looking for this goal and it’s good for him, it gives him self-confidence.
“It was at the right time this goal happens. I am happy for him that he scored again.”
However, despite Yamal’s goal and assist and Raphinha moving on to a tournament high 11 goals in the Champions League this season, midfielder Pedri claimed UEFA’s MVP trophy.
“He’s 100% fit and it’s good to see what he’s doing with the ball, but also without the ball is unbelievable,” Flick said of Pedri. “He’s in the right position at the moment and, for me, in this position, he’s the best in the world.”
Barça will meet either Borussia Dortmund or Lille in the quarterfinal, while they also sit top of LaLiga with a game in hand and are through to the semifinal of the Copa del Rey.
Raphinha is putting no limits on what they can achieve this season.
“We are candidates to win every competition,” he said. “We knew that Benfica would come here strong, but we knew what we had to do to win the game and focused on that.
“We had the result in our favor from the first leg and did really well tonight, it was an especially good first half.”
