Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr alleges racist abuse by Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni - What happened

Real Madrid’s win against Benfica in the first leg of a Champions League play-off round tie on Tuesday was marred by a 10-minute stoppage after Vinicius Junior alleged racist abuse following his 50th-minute goal.

The Brazil forward curled home a fine finish in Lisbon before dancing by the corner flag and was shown a yellow card soon afterwards, but the game then descended into chaos.

The referee Francois Letexier made the gesture to activate FIFA’s anti-racism protocol after Vinicius Jr approached him, and the forward then momentarily walked off the pitch.

Real Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa confirmed afterwards that the allegation had been made against Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni. Jose Mourinho, the Benfica head coach, said that the player denied the allegation.

Vinicius Jr’s team-mate Trent Alexander-Arnold told the Amazon broadcast afterwards: “What’s happened tonight is a disgrace to football”.

Play eventually resumed in the 60th minute, once Vinicius Jr had returned, but thoughts were understandably elsewhere. The visiting side saw out a 1-0 win ahead of next week’s second leg at the Bernabeu, where one of these teams will go through to the round of 16. Benfica head coach Jose Mourinho was shown two yellow cards in quick succession late in the game, while 12 minutes of stoppage time were added on.

Here, we explain how it all unfolded.

What happened after the 50th minute?

The incident began when Vinicius Jr picked up the ball from Kylian Mbappe in space and was able to back his marker Amar Dedic into the penalty area. He then wrong-footed the Benfica right-back to make space to hit a superb curling shot with his right foot into the far top corner with just under 50 minutes played.

It was a fine goal, and the overjoyed Brazilian celebrated with a dance at the corner flag. Nicolas Otamendi was among the Benfica players who did not enjoy that, and amid some words being exchanged on both sides, Letexier showed a yellow card to the bemused goalscorer.

Benfica winger Prestianni was among the Benfica players who appeared unhappy, and the Argentinian continued to exchange words with Vinicius Jr as the players returned to their own halves to restart the game.

But before the action resumed, Vinicius Jr appeared to take offence at something he heard.

The Brazilian forward sprinted over to tell the referee. Letexier listened and then made the crossed hands gesture to signal that the racist abuse protocol was being invoked.

With players and staff from both sides now milling around, Vinicius Jr — who has suffered racist abuse in multiple Spanish stadiums in the past — then left the pitch, sat on the bench and appeared to not want to return to play.

Arbeloa came onto the pitch to talk to Letexier. Mbappe became involved in a discussion with a Benfica staff member, who was red-carded by the referee.

Mourinho had his arm around Vinicius Jr for a close conversation on the sideline, with the 25-year-old appearing to tell the former Madrid head coach what he believed had been said to him.

Letexier explained the situation to captains Otamendi and Federico Valverde on the pitch, and also spoke to other players. Vinicius Jr continued to sit on the bench, with Arbeloa, and Madrid team-mates Mbappe, Aurelien Tchouameni and Alvaro Carreras were among those who spoke to him during at least two minutes spent on the sideline.

Eventually the players — including Vinicius Jr — all returned to the pitch and play restarted, having been stopped for almost 10 minutes.

From that point on, Vinicius Jr was booed by the Benfica crowd.

Dermot Corrigan

How did Madrid change their approach from the last game?

Eight of the 11 Madrid players who started the last chaotic encounter with Benfica at the Estadio Da Luz in the final round of the competition’s league phase three weeks ago were picked from the start by Arbeloa tonight. Though the visitors’ line-ups were similar, this was a team who weathered an early Benfica storm on Tuesday with much more poise.

Without the ball, Madrid approached things in their usual 4-4-2 formation, though their two banks of four were bolstered by the presence of Eduardo Camavinga on the left of midfield. He interchanged with Carreras, and sometimes drifted into the centre to help Tchouameni, bringing athleticism and defensive tenacity down the flank. On the opposite side, a third attacking player — Franco Mastantuono — was left out, allowing Valverde to take up a wide midfield role and beef up the team’s out-of-possession shape.

With several strong duel-winners on the pitch, coupled with talented deep passers in Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen, Madrid spread across the pitch whenever they had possession. The ball travelled a long way as the away side circulated from left to right, but it helped them to take the sting out of the game early on and control the flow of the contest.

Towards the end of the first half, they picked things up, with a roaming Arda Guler dropping into pockets of space and electric forwards Vinicius Jr and Mbappe making more runs in behind and combining well.

Madrid conceded 2.3 expected goals (xG) in the first half alone in that match with Benfica last month, but their figure for that same statistic was just 0.41 across the whole 90 minutes tonight. Arbeloa managed to tighten things up both on and off the ball, even if the result was overshadowed by those depressing second-half scenes.

Thom Harris

Bad night for Benfica and Mourinho

So much of the pre-match build-up focused on Mourinho, relishing the chance to pit himself against one of his former clubs — and perhaps, some speculated, for the Benfica coach to advance his bid for a possible summer return to the Spanish giants.

But unlike three weeks ago, Mourinho and Benfica had no answer on Tuesday to Madrid’s superior quality. Rather than roll back the years with a tactical masterclass, he ended the night watching the game from the stands, having been dismissed from the touchline for a sustained outburst at fourth official Jeremie Pignard and referee Letexier.

Mourinho will hope to inspire some kind of comeback in the second leg in Madrid next Wednesday, but this was a bad night for Benfica and their celebrated coach. His return to the Champions League knockout rounds, after a six-year absence, did not go to plan. Remarkably, it is now almost 12 years since he won a match (never mind a tie) in that phase of European club football’s biggest competition.

Mourinho was later criticised for suggesting that Vinicius Jr had incited the incident that ended with the Brazilian alleging he had been racially abused.

Oliver Kay

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