Raphinha apologized to Pau Cubarsi for stealing his goal in Barcelona’s 4-0 Champions League quarterfinal win against Borussia Dortmund.
Visit M88Sports for more football news and other updates.
Check out M88 Mansion’s best offers here.
Raphinha says sorry to Cubarsi for stealing his goal
“Raphinha scored the opening goal in the 25th minute, sliding in to finish CubarsÃ’s shot, which was already close to crossing the line.
However, the Brazilian winger endured a nervous wait as VAR reviewed whether he was onside when Cubarsà poked the ball toward goal after connecting with Iñigo MartÃnez’s knockdown.
Meanwhile, Robert Lewandowski scored a brace and Lamine Yamal added a fourth, giving Barca the advantage in the first leg at the Olympic Stadium.
“I was worried on the first goal if I was offside, it’s good that it was given,” Raphinha said.
“I apologized to Cubarsi. He told me no worries, he’d count it as an assist. I thought the ball was going wide; it was an instinctive decision.”
It’s Raphinha’s 12th goal in the Champions League this season — more than any other player in the competition.
In total, the 28-year-old has contributed to 19 goals for Barca in the tournament this season.
“I love playing with top-level players,” Raphinha said.
“We know each other really well on the pitch and that is important. We’re achieving spectacular numbers and we hope we keep going like this.”
“It’s still not won
The win over Dortmund leaves Barca on the verge of a first semifinal since 2019.
However, head coach Hansi Flick warned against thinking the tie is already over ahead of the return game next Tuesday.
“It’s still not won,” Flick said in a news conference.
“You never know what can happen in football. It can be a crazy sport.”
“We have to play like we played today, do what we know. But first we turn our attention to Leganés on Saturday. Then we will speak about Dortmund.”
“We also have a good position in LaLiga [four points clear with eight games to go] and we want to defend it. So we want to beat Leganés. That’s the focus now.”
