Barca's punt on retired Szczesny paying off

BARCELONA - Barcelona hold a slender lead over Benfica ahead of their Champions League last-16, second-leg clash on March 11, and goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny deserves a fair share of the credit for

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BARCELONA - Barcelona hold a slender lead over Benfica ahead of their Champions League last-16, second-leg clash on March 11, and goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny deserves a fair share of the credit for it.

Pedri was named Man of the Match in Barca's 1-0 win in Lisbon on March 5, but Polish veteran Szczesny said he merited at least "half" of the award, and the Spain midfielder said his teammate should have it.

The 34-year-old custodian will get another chance to win one himself at the Olympic Stadium, with Portuguese visitors Benfica needing to go on the attack to turn the tie around.

With Barcelona down to 10 men in the first leg after Pau Cubarsi's early red card, Szczesny made several fine saves to help the Catalan side hold on after Raphinha sent them ahead.

It was his best performance since arriving at Barcelona in October on an emergency basis, after first-choice goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen suffered a severe knee injury.