A week after being racially abused for his dance celebration, Vinicius Jr knocked out Benfica from the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday night. Real Madrid clinched a 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu with Vinicius scoring the winner in the 80th minute to seal their place in the round of 16.
Vinícius repeated his corner-flag dance celebration — similar to the one from the first leg. In the first leg in Portugal, the Brazilian danced in front of the Benfica supporters, triggering a heated exchange with several players. In the aftermath, allegations surfaced that Gianluca Prestianni directed a racist remark at the Brazilian forward.
Prestianni — who denies racially abusing Vinícius and has received backing from Benfica — was handed a one-match provisional suspension by UEFA and consequently missed Wednesday’s game despite travelling to Madrid. Before the game, UEFA also dismissed Benfica’s late appeal against the temporary ban.
Benfica, missing suspended coach Jose Mourinho, began with urgency and drew level on aggregate when Rafa Silva finished from close range after a sharp move down the right. Real responded almost immediately as Federico Valverde pulled the ball back for Aurelien Tchouameni, who curled in the equalizer.
The game remained open. Arda Guler had a goal ruled out for offside midway through the first half, and the second period was played at a high tempo but with little precision as Madrid mislaid simple passes and the crowd grew restless.
Real was without Kylian Mbappe because of a knee injury. Benfica also missed forward Gianluca Prestianni, who was provisionally suspended following an alleged racist insult aimed at Vinicius in last week's first leg.
Madrid suffered a scare in the 77th minute when Raul Asencio was carried off after a heavy fall. As Benfica pushed forward in search of a goal, Valverde released Vinicius down the inside-left channel, and the Brazilian angled his finish past goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin to secure qualification.
Real Madrid will face either Manchester City or Sporting CP in the round of 16.
