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Raphinha caps late Barcelona comeback to settle nine-goal thriller with Benfica

Raphinha scored deep into stoppage time to hand Barcelona a dramatic 5-4 comeback win at Benfica and a place in the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday.

Vangelis Pavlidis’s hat-trick had given the hosts a two-goal half-time lead and they were 4-2 up with 12 minutes to play before Hansi Flick’s side pulled out a sensational victory, sealed by the Brazilian with a finish on the break, seconds after Benfica had appealed in vain for a late penalty.

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Mikel Arteta turns to tunes to ‘change our mood’ before Arsenal’s Zagreb test

  • Club training to music after setback of Aston Villa draw
  • ‘You play a song and immediately you feel different’

Mikel Arteta is hoping the sound of music can help Arsenal seal a place in the top eight of the Cham­pions League and has urged his ­players to take out the frustration of letting slip a two-goal lead against Aston Villa when they face Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday night.

Victory against the Croatian side would put Arsenal on the verge of qualifying directly for the last 16 with a trip to Girona next week in their final fixture to come. Arsenal will again be without William Saliba after the Frenchman missed the draw against Villa on Saturday with a hamstring strain, although Arteta said the defender was “evolving well”.

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Unai Emery questions Aston Villa players’ mentality after defeat by Monaco

  • ‘Some are not following the plan,’ says manager
  • Ollie Watkins and Jhon Durán ‘didn’t work well’

A seething Unai Emery questioned the mentality of some of his Aston Villa players and conceded his ­latest attempt to partner Ollie Watkins and Jhon Durán backfired after they blew an opportunity to qualify automatically for the Champions League last 16.

Emery accused several of his Villa players of “not following the plan” after an insipid 1-0 defeat in Monaco. Asked to elaborate on his comments, the Villa manager tapped his temple with his index finger and said: “We want it and we need it.” He added: “We are being demanding with the players we have and some are not following the plan we are doing. This is the objective I have now, to try to build the team as strong as possible with a mentality we are building.”

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