Vinícius Júnior took centre stage in Real Madrid’s 1-0 UEFA Champions League (UCL) knockout play-off first leg win against Benfica, scoring the decisive goal and also leading a walk-off from his Los Blancos teammates after an alleged racist incident.
After playing out a dramatic league phase finale that saw Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin score a dramatic stoppage-time goal which allowed the Eagles sneak into the knockout stages, and with José Mourinho coming up against his former side Real Madrid, this game was always likely to have a bit of needle to it.
That wasn’t particularly evident in the opening stages though, as a rather tentative clash was almost sparked into life by Kylian Mbappé, whose ferocious drive from the edge of the area was well stopped by Trubin.
The Benfica stopper had to be alert again soon after to deny Arda Güler, although a header at the other end from Tomás Araújo which worked Thibaut Courtois was a warning to Madrid that their hosts were still in the game.
The two sides traded blows throughout the first half, with Vinícius Júnior trying his luck for the visitors, while Fredrik Aursnes wasted arguably Benfica’s best chance of the opening 45 minutes when his curling effort forced Courtois to deny him at full stretch.
Chances continued to rain in on the Benfica goal, with Vinícius and Mbappé both going close within seconds of each other before the break, but the record 15-time European champions went into the break on level terms and wondering if they’d be left to rue their missed opportunities.
