'Police break up post-match altercation outside the Barcelona dressing room' – following the LaLiga giants' dramatic late over Benfica

Police intervened in a tunnel bust-up outside the Barcelona dressing room after LaLiga side’s controversial and dramatic late win over Benfica, reports in Spain claim.

Goalscorers Raphinha and Eric Garcia were involved in the fracas, according to a report, while Benfica president Rui Costa left his station to question the refereeing team after the final whistle.

The home side were  incensed by the decision to award Raphinha’s 96th-minute winner after they had been denied a penalty in the build up to the dramatic strike. Substitute Arthur Cabral was shown a straight red card from the bench, while Benfica players surrounded Dutch referee Danny Makkelie to passionately protest the call.

According to Portuguese outlet A Bola, tempers continued to flare as both sets of players went down the tunnel at the Estadio da Luz, with law enforcement required to break up the altercation.

Match winner, Raphinha, whose late strike completed a stunning comeback from 4-2 down and secured Barcelona’s place in the Champions League last-16, hit out at Benfica players and alleged that he had been insulted.

‘They insulted me at the end of the match, I insulted them back,’ Raphinha said.

Raphinha’s 96th-minute winner fired Barcelona into the last-16 of the Champions League

‘If they respect me, I respect them. In my opinion they could have understood the situation, but they preferred to insult me.’

The crazy match on Tuesday night caught fire after only a few minutes when Vangelis Pavlidis tapped in from close range.

Robert Lewandowski equalised from the spot 10 minutes later before two howlers from Barcelona goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny gifted Benfica a two goal cushion.

Szczesny, who came out of retirement to resolve Barcelona’s injury crisis, raced out of goal and collided with his team-mate Balde.

Pavlidis was on hand to guide the ball into the empty net to put Benfica 2-1 up.

The forward completed a first-half hat-trick from the penalty spot after Szczesny fouled Kerem Akturkoglu in the box.

Barcelona were handed a lifeline in the second half courtesy of another goalkeeping error.

Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin’s cleared the ball directly onto the head of Raphinha, with the ball bizarrely bouncing back into the net in the 64th minute.

Benfica boss Bruno Lage was seen after the final whistle offering a vocal critique to his players

The chaos continued when Benfica reestablished their two goal advantage four minutes later.

An Andreas Schjelderup cross was deflected into his own net by Ronald Araujo to leave Barcelona staring at the prospect of defeat.

Barcelona set up a grandstand finish when Lewandowski converted his second penalty of the net, with the referee waving away Benfica’s protestations at the awarding of the spot-kick.

The Catalan giants then equalised in the 86th minute with Eric Garcia rising highest to plant a header into the Benfica net.

A dramatic conclusion followed when Benfica appealed in vain for a second penalty of their own on the night, only for Barcelona to break clear and score a winner through Raphinha.

Benfica boss Bruno Lage was seen after the final whistle offering a vocal critique to his players after holding a two goal lead on two occasions in the match, only to lose.

‘Huge frustration at the result. Huge pride in the display and the support of the Benfica family from start to finish,’ Lage said post-match.

‘We have to pick ourselves up. We have to look forward, learn from the result, from the last minutes of the game.’