LISBON — Three weeks after shedding 4-2 on an evening that shall be lengthy remembered at Benfica, Actual Madrid had been again on the Estadio da Luz. However this wasn’t the identical recreation, the identical feeling or the identical final result.
This time, there was no last-gasp headed aim from a goalkeeper, and no celebratory tears from Benfica supervisor José Mourinho. As an alternative, Madrid take a deserved 1-0 lead again to the Bernabéu for subsequent week’s playoff second leg.
On its return to Lisbon, this didn’t seem like the identical visiting workforce. “We noticed a completely totally different Actual Madrid,” coach Álvaro Arbeloa stated afterward. On their facet, there was much less chaos and extra management.
Madrid discovered their classes from the humbling defeat that dropped them out of the Champions League high eight and into these knockout spherical playoffs, they usually got here well-prepared.
– Connelly: Why each remaining workforce will, will not win Champions League
– Ogden: Actual Madrid broke Mourinho. Can he break them with Benfica?
– Tips on how to enhance Champions League: New mini-league? Golf equipment decide opponents?
However nonetheless, this was an evening of utmost highs and lows. Nothing exemplified that greater than Vinícius Júnior‘s gorgeous Fiftieth-minute aim and the 10-minute stoppage that adopted it, when Vinícius accused Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni of racially abusing him and the referee invoked UEFA’s anti-racism protocol.
The incident hung over the remainder of the sport, and the postmatch dialogue. “This may’t occur,” Aurélien Tchouaméni stated. Kylian Mbappé stated Prestianni “didn’t should play within the Champions League once more.” Arbeloa stated the workforce would have been prepared to comply with Vinicius off the pitch and abandon the sport if he had requested them to.
This time, Mourinho did not finish the night time hugging a ball boy in celebration. He ended it within the stands, disgruntled, having been proven a pink card for protesting a referee’s determination late within the second half. After the match, he criticized Vinicius’ aim celebration. He was praised for his workforce’s efficiency on Jan. 28, when he masterminded a victory that ruthlessly uncovered a brittle, naive Madrid and their weaknesses in protection and midfield. Now it was Arbeloa’s flip.
The Mourinho disciple discovered from that have and arrange his workforce accordingly. Right here, Madrid lined up in a compact 4-4-2, with Eduardo Camavinga tasked with offering safety for fullback Álvaro Carreras on the left facet and Federico Valverde doing the identical for Trent Alexander-Arnold on the precise. If there was a way that night time in January that Madrid had badly underestimated Benfica, there was none of that right here.
Earlier than the sport, Benfica did every part they may to create a sense that lightning might, in truth, strike twice. Because the stadium’s lights dimmed minutes earlier than kickoff, a video proven on the enormous screens started with Anatoliy Trubin‘s 98th-minute header three weeks in the past, and pictures of Mourinho’s tears.
A large banner of an eagle, the membership’s image, was unveiled alongside one facet of the pitch, with simply three phrases: “Till the top.” Trubin’s aim within the eighth minute of added time had seen Benfica qualify for the knockout rounds. They would want rather more of that spirit in the event that they had been to beat Madrid, the kings of Europe, over two playoff legs.
The house facet began properly, and the gang was expectant and noisy. However as the primary half went on, Madrid’s dominance grew. There have been probabilities for Vinicius, Mbappé and Arda Güler, even when the primary half’s standout second was Thibaut Courtois‘ full-stretch save from Fredrik Aursnes.
On the break, such was the momentum that it felt like a Madrid aim was a matter of time. When it got here, the one shock was simply what a particular aim it was, as Vinicius stepped in from the left wing and curled a shot over Trubin into the highest nook.
Vinicius celebrated, dancing by the nook flag. The Brazilian has had a troublesome season, his kind inconsistent and talks over a brand new contract going nowhere. He has now scored in three consecutive appearances this month, and he has proven in large moments — right here and in his equally breathtaking aim within the Supercopa de España in opposition to Barcelona — that he stays one of many world’s most decisive gamers.
After which with that aim, successfully, the sport stopped. Not only for 10 minutes, however nearly definitively. The match by no means discovered the identical momentum, and far of the eye was, inevitably and rightly, on what had occurred with Vinicius.
“Till the aim, it was an ideal recreation,” Mourinho stated afterward. “After that, the sport ended.” The previous Madrid coach’s pink card implies that he will not be on the bench on the Bernabéu subsequent week.
Madrid will go into that recreation as favorites to progress to the final 16, their sense of superiority higher than Tuesday’s 1-0 scoreline would recommend. What Benfica did final month proved unrepeatable.
