Champions League: Vinicius shines as Real Madrid beat Benfica to reach the round of 16

Real Madrid recovered from an early scare to beat Benfica 2-1 on Wednesday and secure a 3-1 aggregate victory to reach the last 16 of the Champions League after a pulsating match at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Aurelien Tchouameni and Vinicius Jr. struck either side of half-time to cancel out Rafa Silva’s opener and send the record 15-time European champions through as Manchester City or Sporting awaited Friday’s draw.

Benfica, trailing 0-1 after a first leg in Portugal marred by Vinicius accusing Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni of directing a racist slur at him, started brightly, cutting through a makeshift Real defense that was missing Eder Militao ‌and Dean Huijsen, while striker Kylian Mbappé was also out due to a knee injury ‌that would sideline him for several games.

Benfica manager Jose Mourinho was absent from the sidelines after being shown a red card for complaining in the first leg, and Prestianni was not involved after being provisionally suspended by UEFA following the Vinicius incident in Lisbon.

The visiting team took the lead in a chaotic manner in the 14th minute. Thibaut Courtois produced a stunning left-footed save to prevent Raul Asencio from turning Pavlidis’ cross into his own net, but the rebound fell invitingly away for Rafa, who controlled the ball in the six-yard box before firing past the keeper.

Real’s response was quick and smooth. ‌Two minutes later, Gonzalo cleverly linked up with Federico Valverde on the right wing, with the Uruguayan cutting the ball back towards the edge of the penalty area, where Tchouameni guided a low finish just inside the right post.

With the tie well balanced, the match opened up and Arda Guler thought he had given Real the lead in the 32nd minute, only for the VAR’s attempt to be ruled out for offside in the build-up.

Benfica continued to threaten, Richard Rios scoring a brilliant save from Courtois with a fierce strike in the 38th minute, but the home side started to find more rhythm after the break edc6.

Asencio headed narrowly wide from a corner and Trent Alexander-Arnold flashed an angled effort past the post, but Real were almost punished for their indiscretion.

On the hour mark, Vinicius was caught as Real tried to play out from the back, allowing ‌Rafa to fire a thunderous shot from the edge of the penalty area that hit the crossbar.

The tension lingered until the 80th minute, when Valverde collected a loose ball in midfield and played a precise pass to Vinicius, who timed his run to beat the offside trap, burst into the penalty area and slid a composed finish into the bottom corner to settle the tie.

«We didn’t start that well, but we remained confident and knew the goals would come eventually,» Tchouameni told Movistar ‌Plus.

«We did a little bit better as the game went on and now we’ll continue as we go along. We have to adjust our defense a little bit and get into the game better, but we won, and that’s the most important thing.»

Published on February 26, 2026