Vinicius Strikes as Real Madrid Eliminate Benfica

Vinicius Jr was on target as Real Madrid booked their place in the last 16 of the Champions League after defeating Benfica at the Bernabeu.

The Brazilian forward had been at the centre of attention before the match. In the first leg, he alleged that he was racially abused by Gianluca Prestianni shortly after scoring. Prestianni later received a one-match suspension and was absent for the return fixture.

Before kick-off in Madrid, home supporters displayed a banner reading “No to racism” in Spanish, showing their backing for Vinicius.

When the match began, the winger let his football do the talking. With 10 minutes remaining, he calmly fired the ball past the goalkeeper to seal a 3–1 aggregate win for Los Blancos.

Benfica had started brightly and took the lead in the 14th minute. Rafa Silva reacted quickly to a loose ball after Thibaut Courtois stopped Raúl Asencio’s attempted clearance from ending up in his own net.

However, their advantage lasted only two minutes. Aurelien Tchouameni responded with a superb strike from outside the box to score his first Champions League goal.

Real Madrid were without the injured Kylian Mbappe and at times felt his absence in attack, as Benfica continued to threaten and searched for a way back into the tie.

In the end, Vinicius’ decisive goal — his sixth in five matches — ensured Real Madrid progressed. They will now prepare to face either Manchester City or Sporting in the next round.