Gala continues to shake
©IMAGO
Vinicius Junior, of all people, shot Real Madrid into the round of 16 of the Champions League after the alleged racism affair in the first leg. The Brazilian offensive star, who said he was racially insulted by opponent Gianluca Prestianni in the 1-0 win in the first duel with Benfica Lisbon, scored the winning goal (80th minute) in the playoff second leg at the Bernabéu in Madrid to make it 2-1 (1-1).
In the round of 16, the top Spanish club will face Sporting Lisbon or Manchester City. Defending champion Paris St. Germain is also in the round of the best 16 teams after winning the playoff duel with AS Monaco. After extra time, Galatasaray also made it there in a duel against Juventus Turin. After regular time it was 0:3 (0:1) before Victor Osimhen (105th +1) and Barış Alper Yılmaz (199th) scored the decisive goals for Gala to make the final score 2:3. The Turks won 7:5 after the first and second leg.
Vinicius Junior scores another winning goal for Real Madrid
Lisbon’s Prestianni was provisionally suspended by UEFA and was therefore unavailable for the second leg. An objection from the Portuguese was rejected by UEFA a few hours before kick-off. Madrid fans displayed a banner with the words “No al racismo” (“No to racism”) in the second leg. When he touched the ball, Vinicius Junior was booed by the Benfica supporters who had traveled with him.
Benfica were also without coach José Mourinho after his yellow-red card in the first leg; he was replaced by assistant coach João Tralhão. Top French striker Kylian Mbappé was missing from Real due to knee problems. So Benfica dominated the opening phase and took the lead through Rafa Silva (14th), the equalizer through Aurélien Tchouaméni (16th) followed a little later. Vinicius Junior finally completed a counterattack to score the winning goal.
Real experienced a moment of horror a quarter of an hour before the end when Raúl Asencio had to be carried off the field on a stretcher after a collision with a teammate.
Defending champion PSG catches up again
Paris St. Germain made up a deficit in the French duel against Monaco, as they did in the 3-2 win in the first leg, and is in the round of 16 after a 2-2 (0-1). There PSG will face FC Barcelona or Chelsea FC.
As in the first leg, the 2025 Champions League winner also benefited from the opponent being sent off. After Mamadou Coulibaly’s yellow-red card (59th), Paris equalized with the subsequent free kick by Marquinhos (60th), and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (66th) made it 2-1 a little later. Maghnes Akliouche (45.+1) gave the guests a 1-0 lead in the first half. Jordan Teze (90+1) managed to equalize for Monaco in stoppage time.
