Vinicius Junior was the match-winner as Real Madrid CF beat S.L. Benfica 1-0 in Lisbon for a first-leg victory in their play-off meeting, but crowd trouble took centre stage of an all-action contest.
The Brazilian winger scored early in the second half at the Estádio da Luz, cutting inside and curling a fine finish past goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin. In the next moments Vinicius interrupted play himself to alert referee François Letexier of an incident, which prompted UEFA’s anti-racism protocol into action. The match carried on after a delay, but emotion still ran high throughout.
Madrid had already threatened before the breakthrough, with Kylian Mbappe and Arda Guler both denied by Trubin. The visitors remained in command, and ended with 16 shots to Benfica’s 10 and a better expected-goals number.
There was late drama when Benfica coach Jose Mourinho was sent off after being shown two quickfire yellow cards, and Vinicius then had a bottle hurled at him from the stands in second-half stoppage time.
But despite the incidents in 2018, the goal was Vinicius’ 31st in Europe’s premier competition and it saw him pass Kaka for most goals in the competition by a Brazilian.
