What else did you expect from Wojciech Szczesny’s return to the big time? On his first appearance in the competition as a Barcelona goalkeeper, the veteran goalkeeper set the baffling standard for both sides in a thrilling 5-4 win at Benfica that featured three penalties, two howlers from the returning goalkeeper, and one accidental header. That barely scratches the surface of this game, won at the death when what might have been a penalty conceded by the Polish player between the posts became a one-man breakaway from match-winner Raphinha.

Two errors in eight first-half minutes set the baffling standard for this contest. A furious Bruno Large felt compelled to conduct his fulltime team talk in front of the Estadio Da Luz, surely not rollicking his players but instead making plain his indignation for the world to see. Alejandro Balde should have had a penalty for a shove on him in the 96th minute. If not that, he might have had another when Szczesny clattered into him. Instead, Barcelona flew down the other end through Raphinha, executing a one-man fast break as deadly as any when he drove onto his left foot and fired past the luckless Anatoliy Trubin.

The comeback was complete. Or was it? Would Danny Makkiele and his VAR crew conclude that there had been a penalty? Even when this game had been won it promised further twists. Not for the first time on this night, Benfica were left cursing the decisions made in the penalty box.

They had already seen Alejandro Balde handed a penalty for what looked like a punt into touch. Tomas Araujo touched him. Did it stop the left back getting to the ball? Robert Lewandowski’s stuttering run belied a nerveless finish to cancel out Benfica’s excellent early opener.

Such a view wouldn’t have reckoned with Szczesny, the chief actor in this comedy of errors. In retrospect, perhaps he’d have been happy watching all this drama unfold from his television. Few could reject the siren song of Barcelona, but covering the space behind the defensive line is a young man’s game. More than 15 years into a career, Szczesny looked nothing of the sort.

Having already conceded to Vangelis Pavlidis’s powerful strike, Szczesny did what his coaches have doubtless instructed him to do. Unfortunately, on this occasion, he really didn’t need to trouble himself. Alejandro Balde had it. At least he did until Szczesny clattered into him. Pavlidis swept it up instead.

When most goalkeepers make such a calamitous error, they tend to bunker deep, both mentally and physically. Such caution has never afflicted Szczesny. He probably did not have much choice but to come out when Frederik Aursnes slipped a pass through towards Kerem Akturkoglu. Unfortunately, Szczesny’s clattering challenge was that of a man with barely two and a half games since the summer. A red card, a howler, and now a penalty conceded since he’d taken the field against Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup final.

The third-fastest hat trick in Champions League history ended up as something of a footnote in this wildly explosive game, the first in European Cup history to end 5-4. From 3-1 down, you’d expect Barcelona to have mounted a stirring comeback, but it hardly seemed so. Trubiin just kicked the ball into Raphinha’s foray into the net.

Although Szczesny had improved during the Segunda Etapa, saving well from Aursnes, his struggles appeared to sow panic in a defense continually breached by Benfica’s passing play. If Marc-Andre ter Stegen was behind Ronald Araujo, would the center back have felt compelled to block a cross from the left flank? Almost certainly not.

By the end of the game, Szczesny delivered a performance worthy of a veteran.