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Real Madrid’s Champions League playoff clash against Benfica descended into chaos after Vinicius Junior gave Los Blancos the lead in the first leg in Lisbon. The Brazilian winger fired in an unstoppable opener just five minutes into the second half, but his celebration sparked ugly scenes and a 10-minute delay ensued as the goalscorer accused Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni of racism.
Chaos in Lisbon
After he had whipped a brilliant finish beyond the goalkeeper, Benfica’s players and fans were angered by Vinicius’ protracted celebrations by the corner flag. He was confronted by the hosts’ Nicolas Otamendi while his team-mates became embroiled in separate shoving matches as they tried to protect him. The winger was eventually shown a yellow card for ‘excessive celebration’.
Just when it seemed as though the flashpoint had died down as the two sides prepared to restart the game, Vinicius ran over to the referee to report something that Prestianni had said to him during an exchange of words, and the referee stopped the game altogether for the racism protocol. In the meantime, Vinicius sat down on the Real Madrid bench refusing to play on.
Ugly scenes drag on
Kylian Mbappe was also incensed by whatever had been said. Eventually, the referee made a crossed-arms gesture to signal the racist incident protocol, which was introduced by FIFA back in May 2024. It involved a three-step process to deal with such issues, with the first being to stop the game. The match eventually resumed, but only after a 10-minute delay. A member of Benfica’s backroom staff was shown a red card amid various skirmishes all over the pitch, with the Aguias’ head coach Jose Mourinho also involved as he tried to speak to Vinicius.
Unclear what was said
Television replays showed that Vinicius reacted to something Prestianni had said while he had his shirt over his mouth, immediately running to the referee to report the incident, which led the official to halt proceedings. For several minutes, the Brazilian international sat in the dugout while the game was paused, and head coach Alvaro Arbeloa was spotted engaged in a deep conversation with the winger. Later on in the encounter, Vinicius was struck on the arm by an object thrown from the crowd. It is not the first time the player has been involved in crowd incidents, with the 25-year-old having a number of clashes with fans in Spain and previously the target of racist abuse on multiple occasions.
Madrid defender Trent Alexander-Arnold came to the defence of his team-mate after the clash, saying: “It’s disgusting. What’s happened tonight is a disgrace for football. It’s ruined the night for the team.” Head coach Arbeloa echoed the full-back’s words, adding: “You have to ask Benfica’s players, it is not a question for me. I think everyone can see what happened. What Vinny said is not important. What can I say? Of course we have to fight against this type of attitude. If we don’t respect each other then that is a problem.”
Mourinho sees red as Real take advantage
Mourinho was later dismissed himself – collecting two yellow cards in quick succession for dissent on the touchline. Meanwhile, the match was regularly paused as a result of the Real Madrid players being pelted by missiles thrown by the home crowd. The former Madrid boss had earlier spoke to Vinicius during the incident, but could not keep his cool for the remainder of the match. He will now miss the return leg in Madrid, with his side having to overturn the one-goal deficit without him.
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